The thoughts and perceptions of an aspiring writer on life and the world around her

Monthly Archives: July 2018

Amid the many Donald Trump scandals circulating in the news lately, whether it be on Russia, Stormy Daniels, his racist rhetoric, and anything else relating to his presidency, there is a strong tendency for the media to skirt many harrowing moments from his shockingly shady past. Now I get that it’s the media’s job to cover what’s currently going on in the world. Yet, that doesn’t mean many of these scandals don’t matter for a lot of them can tell us a lot about Trump’s character and abilities as well as what he really stands for. Nonetheless, Trump’s breadth of scandals is staggering with mafia tie allegations, unscrupulous business dealings, sexual assault allegations, racial discrimination, and alleged marital rape. All of which number in the thousands while spanning over 4 decades from the 1970s to the present day ranging from the trivial to the truly appalling.

Nevertheless, there are some Donald Trump scandals that are worth revisiting since they still carry negative repercussions to this day. In a time of obscene economic inequality, egregious corporate greed, rising costs of living, and diminishing labor power, Trump has styled himself in his 2016 presidential campaign as a successful businessman who many working class whites viewed as their champion despite the fact he’s neither. But none shows the negative effect Trump has had on many Americans than the debacles surrounding his casino empire in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the 1980s-2000s. In his career-long pursuit to increase his personal coffers, Trump has been involved with a wide range of businesses over the years. The sheer range of ventures may offer a superficial appearance of a broad array of mastery, that doesn’t mean he’s good at business. Since he wouldn’t be able to try his hand in multiple ventures if he wasn’t born wealthy to begin with. But like any expert con artist across industries, Trump has only mastered an essential skill of structuring deals financially beneficial for him regardless whether the underlying business succeeds and regardless what damage is done.

Nowhere else is this ability echoed than in his dealings regarding his casinos in Atlantic City when he was a chair of a publicly traded company. Since such role not only made him responsible for his own interests, but also those of his company’s shareholders. But rather than create wealth for business partners, Trump took advantage of investors who believed in him in order to benefit. As head of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, he ran the company to the ground, immiserating shareholders while walking away with enormous bags of cash. And he’s doing the same thing to the United States in the White House because his brand managed to impress over 60 million people willing to vote for him.

Here are the remnants of Trump Plaza which closed in 2014. Without its glitzy lights, it seems like a rather basic abandoned building only taking up space in the city.

It’s not unusual for large business enterprises to be largely financed by people who didn’t found the company and don’t usually manage. In fact, this is how many multinational corporations that shape our lives today get started in the first place. Yet, while starting and managing a successful company is one way to make a shitload of money, it’s not the only way. Another method is running a business that stays afloat for some years without being really profitable. You then treat yourself to a high salary and when it goes bankrupt, that’s the investors’ problem. While business failure is always a fact of life, giving oneself a cushy salary while everyone else suffers from their sins is a terrible way to do business. But it’s a scheme more common than people might think in a day of massive corporate debts, private equity, bailouts, and government subsidies for big businesses. We all remember how Wall Street bankers caused the 2008 Great Recession with their complicated financial schemes which ruined the lives of millions. People lost their jobs, their homes, and/or their life savings. Large financial giants like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns ended in bankruptcy. Yet, the bankers all gave themselves nice bonuses from their government bailouts while none of them received any prison sentence whatsoever. In fact, when a major business in America fails these days, it’s always the employees and communities who get screwed while the executives responsible for the company’s demise make out with the bag.

In any case, this is exactly what happened with Donald Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City. But unlike most capitalists in their business ventures, Trump focused more on personally profiting from his casino empire than building it into a successful business. And for that reason, the New York Times reported that Trump “was failing in Atlantic City long before Atlantic City itself was failing.” But they note, even as his companies floundered, he personally profited. According to the Times, “He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.” Not to mention, he extracted management fees from the companies he was involved with, which he handsomely profited from while his companies suffered. In fact, his casinos never made a profit. In other words, it had the makings of a major con job.

Here are the remnants of Trump Taj Mahal. With an unsustainable debt, it would never really turn a profit and eventually had to close amid a strike in 2016. It has since been bought by Hard Rock in 2017.

While most people know Atlantic City for its casinos, but many people don’t know that some of the people who live and work there blame Donald Trump for ruining their hometown. Now home to many shuttered and struggling casinos, the Washington Post has noted, “The unemployment rate of the city is already 9.2%, nearly twice the national average, and Atlantic County, N.J., is the nation’s mortgage foreclosure capital, meaning that many workers whose homes are underwater won’t be able to afford to move somewhere else to seek new jobs.” Trump has said, “Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it.” He further stated he personally got out of the Atlantic City casino business before it entirely collapsed, and that the collapse had more to do with the spread of legal gambling in other East Coast locations than with anything particular with his properties there. While that may be part of the reason, Trump at least contributed to Atlantic City’s decline, if not precipitated its perils himself. The Washington Post blames him for the “orchestration of a casino-industry bubble,” which he accomplished by “flouting local regulation, building the Taj with $700 million in junk bonds at 14% interest, defaults, [and] bankruptcies.” As we see now things didn’t turn out well for his business or Atlantic City.

Here’s a graph of Donald Trump’s casinos and their projected costs to build. I didn’t get into the Trump World’s Fair since it basically closed after 3 years so. Yet, they were all financed by debt which was why they never turned a profit and eventually closed due to financial difficulties.

Now Donald Trump’s casino failures were inevitable because of the way he built his business. As the New York times reads, “assembled his casino empire by borrowing money at such high interest rates — after telling regulators he would not — that the businesses had almost no chance to succeed.” Yet, he made money from his ventures through 2 primary means. One was extracting management fees from companies doing business with him. The other was transferring personal debt to companies he controlled. At a business standpoint, this smells of a racket to me.

Built in partnership with Harrah’s in the 1980s, Trump Plaza was the first Trump Atlantic City Casino. It was the scene of a notorious baccarat session where Akio Kashiwagi lost $10 million. But once Trump Taj Mahal opened, its fortunes would decline and never recover.

Donald Trump’s very first Atlantic City casino, Trump Plaza, was a partnership with Holiday Inn-owned Harrah’s for which he was paid a $24 million management fee. The place cost $210 million to build. The relationship wasn’t a cordial one. Trump convinced Harrah’s to remove itself from the name and thwarted attempts to build a parking garage on land in front of the casino since he wanted to attract high-rollers, not day gamblers. A year after its 1984 opening, the Holiday Inn sued Trump. He countersued alleging that it had had “badly bloodied” the Trump name with their mismanagement. Eventually, Harrah’s got out of the deal, selling its Plaza share to Trump for $223 million. Like he did with purchasing his marina casino, Trump bought the stake with borrowed money. He then left his first wife, Ivana in charge who took the casino’s only suite for herself. By the early 1990s, it was already hemorrhaging cash that Trump filed for bankruptcy in November 1992. The banks took a 49% stake in the Plaza for more favorable terms on the $550 million in debt the building had on it. By the time he emerged, he was $900 million in personal debt. Announced its closure in 2014 while Trump sued to have his name removed from there.

Trump Castle (later Trump Marina) was built in partnership with Hilton Hotel. But since Hilton couldn’t get a casino license, Trump assumed full ownership. Out of all the casinos, it’s the only one still open but as the Golden Nugget due to new ownership since 2011.

Trump Castle was built in partnership with Hilton that cost $310 million to build. But when the New Jersey Casino Control Commission denied Hilton’s casino license application, it was forced to sell. Donald Trump took the offer. In the early 1990s, Donald Trump’s father Fred sent his lawyer there to buy $3.5 million worth of casino chips without playing them, in what amounted to an immediate cash infusion. State regulators later fined the casino $30,000 for it, but allowed the business to keep the money. As Trump Marina in 2011, it was sold for about a tenth its original worth under new management as the Golden Nugget.

In 1986, using borrowed money again, Donald Trump bought 10% of Bally Manufacturing. Bally sued him within days on accusations of antitrust and securities law violations. Trump countersued. In February 1987, Bally settled its litigation with Trump by buying back his stock at an inflated price and paying him a $6.2 million fee to go away to 10 years. Trump’s gross profit from the suit was $21 million. Since New Jersey law limited casino ownership to 3, Bally could block a takeover by buying a second gambling hall. So the company bought the Atlantic City Golden Nugget from Steve Wynn for a wildly inflated price of $440 million. Bally’s spendthrift reaction to Trump’s raid left the company drowning in red and unable to effectively compete in Atlantic City (or Nevada). And the raid compelled Wynn to leave town. Still, this shows that Trump’s casino scandals didn’t just affect his own.

Financed by junk bonds at 14% interest under Donald Trump’s ownership, Trump Taj Mahal’s money woes would plague his casino empire to no end. A year after its 1990 grand opening, it was bankrupt due to unsustainable debts. During Trump’s ownership, it also had allegations of money laundering and links to Asian organized crime.

Trump Taj Mahal was built in partnership with Resorts Casino Hotel which had already sunk $500 million in its construction and hadn’t come close to finishing it. Donald Trump opened the casino using $675-900 million in patently unsustainable junk bonds at 14% interest. As David Clay Johnston wrote, “The shortage of funds was obvious inside the building. The long second-floor hallways leading to the New Delhi Deli and ballrooms were supposed to have marble columns. Instead, they were hastily covered with pink wallpaper. Many rooms were a mess, with hanging rods laying on closet floors, curtains that would not close and keys that did not match the doors weeks after the grand opening.” In addition to unsustainable debt, the casino was slapped with fines for “significant and longstanding” money laundering and had ties to Hong Kong organized crime. Unable to keep up with high interest payments, Trump Taj Mahal bankrupted within a year in 1991 which resulted in Trump losing half his interest in the casino and had to sell his yacht and airline. His creditors even put him on a budget of $5.4 million for a $65 million bailout per approval by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.
Only 4 months after Trump Taj Mahal’s opening, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission reported that 253 Atlantic City-area subcontractors hadn’t been paid either in full or on time for the project. Trump owed $69.5-72 million, mostly to small family businesses. They had worked they hadn’t been paid for and they negotiated very small amounts to get paid. When Trump’s company declared bankruptcy in 1991, many small companies went out of business.

In 1995, the company Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts staged an IPO but began using some of the almost $300 million it had raised to clear Donald Trump’s personal loans, which amounted to $916 million due to his early 1990s bankruptcies. THCR’s sole asset at the time was the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino which was already debt he personally guaranteed. Thus, not only did the company have debt from its own operations it had to pay, but also Trump’s personal debts. For a public company to have debt isn’t unusual. But here you see Trump socializing his debts by making his personal debts his company and shareholders’ problem. And to a certain extent, the people of Atlantic City. Yet, such leveraging off burdened THCR with millions of unsustainable debt.

In addition, $140 million of that money came from what Vox calls, “mom-and-pop investors” who’d later lose nearly everything for putting their confidence in him. Since stocks in the 1990s were the hot asset class that got so hot to increasingly attract naïve middle-class investors hoping to make a quick buck and unscrupulous financial racketeers hoping to make a quick buck off of them, Trump saw this mania as a perfect opportunity to escape from the legacy from his disastrous investments from the early 1990s. Since mom-and-pop investors don’t know shit about real estate tax law, they made the perfect suckers.

In 1996, THCR casino workers were encouraged to invest their 401(k) savings directly into Trump stock. By late 2003, the pool of employee retirement accounts held at 1.1 million in company stock. But shortly before THCR’s 2004 bankruptcy, the company’s retirement fund committee voted to sell the remaining shares in bulk to Merrill Lynch. More than 400 employees still held Trump stock when the force sale arrived and were sold at an average of $.57 per share. For an employee who put $1000 into a retirement account in 1997 when shares averaged $9.65 apiece, those savings had dwindled to $59. Three weeks after the forced sale and 2004 THCR bankruptcy filing, the share price was up to $2.04. None of the employees were able to profit from the gain.

Also inn 1996, THCR sold $1.1 billion in junk bonds to offset Donald Trump’s personal debt and buy 2 more ill-fated Atlantic City casino properties. In 1997, Donald Trump sold off Trump Castle to THCR for $490 million which according to the Times was “was based on optimistic profit projections and was about $100 million too high” while paying himself $888,000 for the deal. A Wall Street Journal report from 1997 describes Trump’s obscene pay package:

“Donald J. Trump received a $7 million pay package in 1996, including a $5 million bonus and a 71% salary increase, despite a more than 70% drop in the shares of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. from their high last year.

“In addition to his bonus, Mr. Trump, the company’s chairman, received a salary of $1 million and another $1 million to cover services rendered by Mr. Trump’s privately held companies to Trump Hotels, according to the company’s recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

THCR’s price dropped because it was unprofitable due to assuming $1.7 billion in debt thanks to the Trump Castle acquisition. Essentially Donald Trump had been paying a high salary for himself for running a company whose main purpose was taking enormous debts off of his personal balance sheet and shift them over to the company. He told the Journal, “Other than the stock price, we’re doing great.” The stock price would begin a long decline from which it never recovered. Nonetheless, this echoes how many Wall Street executives received generous pay packages following the 2008 crash that kickstarted the Great Recession despite how poorly their banks did that they were begging for government bailouts. While everyone else suffers the consequences from their greed.

In addition to assuming Trump’s personal debts and paying him an exorbitant salary, THCR also heavily purchased services from Trump’s privately-held companies, which doesn’t happen in most diversified enterprises. Normally, a company would buy the tie-ins at a discount and promote them for the customers. At least what I think. As the Washington Post reported:

“As the company spiraled downward, it continued to pay for Trump’s luxuries. Between 1998 and 2005, it spent more than $6 million to “entertain high-end customers” on Trump’s plane and golf courses and about $2 million to maintain his personal jet and have it piloted, a Post analysis of company filings shows.

“Trump also steered the company toward deals with the rest of the Trump-brand empire. Between 2006 and 2009, the company bought $1.7 million of Trump-brand merchandise, including $1.2 million of Trump Ice bottled water, the analysis shows.”

The Post then stated that a shareholder who bought $100 in DJT stock could sell them for about $4, which is a 96% loss. While investing that same amount of money to MGM Resorts would’ve yielded a $600 or 6 times the initial investment. Trump’s casinos even paid an annual $300,000 for the right to use his jet for transporting celebrities to gigs.

Nonetheless, the company went bankrupt in 2004 with $1.8 billion in debt. Shareholders saw their remaining stake’s value further reduced as creditors seized a large equity share. As a major shareholder, Trump lost out in the bankruptcy with his share reduced to 28%. But since unsustainable debts had previously been owed to him personally, it was a huge net win for him as his investors took further losses. THCR then changed its name to Trump Entertainment Resorts.

In 2009, Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for bankruptcy with $1.2 billion in debt after bondholders rejected Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to retake control. He resigned from the board and ended up with just 10% of the company’s share after it emerged. He sold his remaining share to Carl Icahn who bought the casino out of its final bankruptcy in 2014 along with the other casinos under TER (or at least their debt anyway). Amid a strike by the casino’s union UNITE HERE Local 54 went on strike in 2016, Icahn closed the Taj before selling it to Hard Rock for $50 million the next year.

This is a graph of Atlantic City casinos from 1999 to 2010. As you can see, while all Atlantic City casinos have suffered in recent years, Donald Trump’s have fared the worst. The green lines highlight the years the casinos filed for bankruptcy.

Based on these reports, what Donald Trump didn’t do was run a successful business even when other Atlantic City casinos did quite well. From 1997-2002 as revenues from other Atlantic City casinos rose 18%, Trump’s fell by 1%. Had Trump’s revenues have grown at the same rate, his company could’ve made interest payments and possibly register a profit. In 2007, the New York Times reported: “Over all, an index of casino stocks is up 268% since June 1995. Trump investors lost 93%.” Instead of turning a profit, the public company left a trail of losses for shareholders and bondholders as well as unpaid bills to contractors and subcontractors. Each time Donald Trump’s casino companies appeared in bankruptcy court, he persuaded bondholders to accept less money while he still added debt to his businesses. Furthermore, he didn’t even try offering high-quality amenities or first-class service that could’ve attracted more tourists in Atlantic City. For according to Trump’s longtime investment bankers at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, “The Trump name does not connote high-quality amenities and first-class service in the casino industry.” Rather, the Trump name connotes “the failure to pay one’s debts, a company that has lost money every year, and properties in need of significant deferred maintenance and lagging behind their competitors.”

Still, we must understand that whatever mistakes he made in his business career, his THCR episode was a tour de force. The total money Trump netted from salary, fees, cash paid to his other businesses, canceled personal debts, and overpriced assets bought is incalculable. And though it wasn’t perfectly legal since there were money laundering fines, securities law violations, campaign finance laws, and others, it was legal enough to work. Trump is an unscrupulous businessman who talked people into
lending him money to run casinos. Though the fact he was bad running casinos is nobody’s problem but anyone he owed money from.

However, given that gambling isn’t a normal industry, New Jersey let Donald Trump’s shenanigans slide in Atlantic City as part of a larger economic development scheme aimed at creating a stable job base for the resort town. Essentially in principle, it meant licensed casino operations not supposed to be running with the kind of excessive debt levels Trump used to keep his scheme running. New Jersey regulators had extensive discretion which they used to let Trump do whatever he wanted. In fact, they seemed largely uninterested in exploring Trump’s varied business relationship with Mafia-tied front companies, so they probably let other practices slide as well. Atlantic City was also complicit in Trump’s predatory business scheme since the leaders saw casinos as a way to solve its financial woes, which seemed to work for awhile. Until a predatory vulture capitalist like Donald Trump showed up.

Here’s a graph from Newsweek showing Atlantic City casino job rates from 1997 to 2010. While the casino business is always a gamble which hasn’t been doing well in recent years, Trump’s casinos cut far more jobs than every other casino there in that timespan.

Had Donald Trump really kept the interests of other people invested in or running his company, his casino empire might not have been so detrimental to Atlantic City. After all, Trump Castle had its own TV show at one point while Trump Plaza had a famous Japanese gambler losing $10 million there along with other events. Instead, Donald Trump used Atlantic City to privately enrich himself while his casinos floundered in unsustainable debt. With each bankruptcy, he was slowly forced out of the business as a result as he tried to hold onto his casino empire as late as 2009. Eventually management drove him out since he was failing long before Atlantic City itself went down. While Trump’s profitable business failures do indeed demonstrate his business prowess, provided if it’s a long shell game to make himself rich at others’ expense. But even the most successful cons will eventually be found out once the marks realize they’ve put in their fortunes for gains that will never materialize. Donald Trump may repeatedly deny that Atlantic City’s current failures have nothing to do with him since he’s gone. Yet, it was his gamble that blew the city to this degree in the first place. It was his promise that attracted thousands of workers and their families to this place, building developments, shopping malls, and schools to accommodate the new community that was to serve Trump’s personal seaside empire. People were beholden to him, manipulated by him, and played as cogs in his machine that would benefit nobody but himself in the end.

The casinos’ massive debts remained unmanageable as before that subsequent managers couldn’t manage them properly before they shuttered. When Donald Trump’s casinos eventually closed down so did the resort town’s lifeblood. Thousands were left without jobs and the city penniless. Today, Atlantic City remains neglected according to the New Yorker which, “has been attributed to a bloated municipal payroll,” to “the suffocating effect of the casinos, which are boxed off from the city and are designed to keep patrons inside losing money rather than outside spending it,” and to the “the thorny old problem of race or the dreary question of the structure of municipal government statewide.” Trump isn’t responsible for all these problems, but from his racism to profiting off unprofitable companies, he didn’t set a good example. But as one investor noted in The New York Times, Trump lent to companies the gilt sheen his name projected, yet ultimately, “drove these companies into bankruptcy by his mismanagement, the debt and his pillaging” of assets.

Whether originated in India or the Middle East is unknown, but the traditional Dhow have been a common sight in the Arab and Indian Ocean which were commonly used for trade. Nonetheless, its triangular sails influenced European seafaring during the Middle Ages and inspired forms of the fore-and-aft rigs.

When you do a post series about wooden ships, you find plenty of shipbuilding and nautical terms that don’t really belong in some neat little category. Some of these deal with certain shipbuilding techniques and rigging descriptions. Some might pertain to directions or locations on the ship. Some may consist on measurements. And some might reflect aspects of ship life, ship shape, or weather conditions. At any case, such terms can be kind of strange to any layman who hasn’t spent a great amount of time using a sailboat. Yet, they’re nonetheless important if you want to understand ship parts or read a historical captains log of what went on one.

Shipbuilding Terms:

Battens- narrow wood strips used for a variety of purposes. Can be strips of wood or bamboo poles placed in a sail’s leech or sewn into a sail to retain its form. Can be strips of wood used to fasten down edges of material covering the hatches in bad weather. Or can be strips of wood used in the ship’s construction.

Clinker-Built- a shipbuilding method in which the hull planks overlap. Found on early ships.

Coak- a hardwood pin joining 2 timbers or 2 halves of a tackle block.

Coir- coconut husk fibers used for making rope.

Crank- an iron bracket for supporting and/or storing items such as stern lanterns or capstan rods. Also refers to a ship that couldn’t carry a great deal of sail without capsizing.

Deadlights- can be strong shutters or plates fastened over a ship’s porthole or cabin window in stormy weather. Can also be thick windows set in the ship’s side or deck.

Escape Hatch- a small door for escaping from a ship in an emergency.

Fiddley- iron framework around the hatchway opening.

Fife Rail- a rail around the mast or along the ship’s sides with belaying pin holes used to secure running rigging.

Fore-and-Aft Rigged or sloop-rigged- fitted with sails not attached to yards but are bent with gaffs or set onto the masts or on stays in the ship’s mid line. Such ship is often simpler to rig than its square-rigged counterparts, required less crew, and can sail closer to the direction from which the wind blew.

Gaff-Rigged- a fore-and-aft rig where the primary sails behind the mast are trapezoidal in shape. The sail foot is attached to a boom, the luff is attached to a mast, and the head is attached to the gaff.

Leadman’s Platform- suspended grating over the ship’s sides from which soundings are taken.

Lateen-Rigged- rigged with triangular fore-and-aft sails.

Lug-Rigged- rigged with lugsails.

Mortise- a square hole in the plank’s sides, made to receive a tenon and so form a mortise and tenon joint.

Muster Station- place on the ship where people should gather in an emergency.

Plank- a long wood piece used for constructing the hull and decking. Were usually 1-4″ inches thick of varying lengths.

Purchase- any mechanical device consisting of spars and tackle, to increase mechanical advantage (lifting power) when hoisting heavy objects like spars or sails.

Rabbet- a notch in a wood piece made to receive the plank ends or sides which are to be secured by it.

Rig- characteristics of a ship’s masts and type along with number of sails by which the type is determined.

Saddle- a long wood block or a semi-circular wood piece fixed to a mast, bowsprit, or yard.

Scarf- an overlapping joint used to connect 2 timbers or planks. Includes those hooked and keyed.

Shell-First Construction- a construction method where the hull’s formed without a frame. Strakes either overlap, fastened to one another by clenched nails, or they form a smooth skin, fastened edge to edge by a complex system of mortise-and-tension joints.

Ship-Rigged- rigged with 3 or more masts carrying all square sails.

Shiver- a wooden splinter.

Sny- an upward curvature in a plank’s edge resulting from the bend and twist occurring when a plank is laid against a hull or hull frames. Usually amplified at the bow and stern but will occur wherever a plank twists because of the hull’s curvature.

Sprig- a relatively small threaded eye-bolt.

Square-Rigged- fitted with square sails as the principal sails bent to the yards carried athwart the mast and trimmed with braces. Though it can carry more sail than a fore-and-aft rigged ship of comparable size, it’s more dependent on favorable winds.

Tarpaulin- waterproof and treated canvas used for covering hatches, boats, and other gear on board a ship.

Tenon- a side plank projection shaped to fit into a mortise and form a mortise-tenon joint.

Thick Stuff- a plank thicker than 4 inches.

Top-Hamper- refers to the uppermost rigging, spars, and sails.

Treenail- an oak cylindrical pin used to secure a ship’s wooden planks to the ribs. Used since wooden nails didn’t rust nor loosen since they’d swell when wet while metal nails weren’t yet widely available until the Industrial Revolution.

Trunnel- wooden shipbuilding peg used for fastening timbers.

Turtleback- structure over the ship’s bow or stern in a Korean turtle ship.

Whelp- any wood or iron piece bolted onto a windlass or capstan barrel to save it from chafing and damage by the cables it hoists.

White Rope- untreated rope not saturated in tar.

Nautical Terms:

Aback- wind coming from the front or wrong side of sail or sails.

Abeam- at right angles to or beside a ship.

Afore- before or closer to.

Aft or abaft- a ship’s rear section. Can refer to in, toward, or close to a ship’s rear.

Ahoy- a greeting or hail to another ship originating from the 18th century.

Alee- in the direction toward which the wind is blowing; downwind.

Aloft- overhead or above.

Altitude- used in celestial navigation, a celestial body’s angle with a point on the horizon vertically below it. Historically measured with an astrolabe, a cross staff or quadrant, and later a sextant or octant.

Amidship- the ship’s middle.

Anchor’s Away- expression when the anchor just clears the bottom.

Anchorage- any location where a ship can safely or is allowed to drop anchor. Most often a location within or just outside of the harbor. Also, a city in Alaska.

Azimuth- used in celestial navigation, the angle measured clockwise around the horizon from North to a horizon point vertically below the observed celestial object. Determined with the help of a compass. North was 0/360 degrees. East was 90 degrees. South was 180 degrees. West was 270 degrees.

Banking- a term for fishing on Newfoundland’s Grand Banks.

Barking or dressing- creating treatment for sails.

Barnacle- a species of shell fish which often attached to a ship’s hull.

Barratry- an unlawful act or fraudulent breach of duty by the ship’s master or crew, which is going against and in conflict of interest with the cargo’s owner. Like selling the ship’s cargo before claiming it was lost at sea.

Beaufort Scale- scale named after Royal Navy officer Sir Francis Beaufort. Used for classifying wind velocity ranging from 0 for calm or no winds to 12 for hurricane strength winds.

Belay- to tie and secure rope.

Bend- to attach a sail or fasten onto its supporting spar.

Board- to force one’s way on a ship without consent.

Boarding- to enter a ship either by invitation or consent.

Boom Chain, boom defense, harbor chain, river chain, or chain boom- a chain or other obstacle strung between two points across a body of water to impede navigation, sometimes strung between a boat and shore.

Broach- when a ship veers or turns suddenly and uncontrollably broadside to the wind and waves.

Broadside- a general term for the vantage of another ship that’s absolutely perpendicular to the direction it’s going. To get along broadside, a ship was to take it at a very vulnerable angle. Of course, this is the ship’s largest dimension and is easiest to attack with larger weapons. A “broadside” has also came to indicate a cannon hit or similar attack to the ship’s main part as well as a simultaneous discharge of some or all the port or starboard guns.

Buoy- a float of different shape and size that’s attached by a cable or chain to the seabed marking navigational channels or underwater hazards like shallow banks, rocks, or reefs. A ship’s buoy could be attached by a rope to the anchor, indicating the anchor’s underwater location so that a ship could stay clear of the anchor and the anchor cable.

Burthen- an older term used for expressing a ship’s carrying capacity.

Careen- to turn a ship on its side for repairs or cleaning. Or a ship leaning on one side while sailing in the wind.

Carpenter’s Measurement- (L x B x D)/95 an unofficial North American management of a ship’s cargo capacity consisting of, which was very popular in the 1800s. Calculated by multiplying the ship’s length from stem to sternpost, with the ship’s beam, and its hold depth before dividing the result by 95.

Cat- name of the purchase where the anchor was hoisted to the catshead in preparation for stowing and letting go.

Cat O’Nine Tails- a knotted whip from unraveling the rope’s strands. Used for a variety of offenses aboard a naval ship.

Celestial Navigation- in such navigation, the 2 coordinates use to determine a ship’s bearing were the celestial body’s altitude and azimuth.

Chain- a length unit equal to 4 rods or 66 ft.

Close-Hauled- the sail trim when sailing into the wind was required, generally within 45 degrees. A ship is said to be close-hauled when its tacks were drawn windward with the sheets hauled close aft and the bowlines drawn to their greatest extension.

Come About- to change tack and the ship’s course or direction. In other words, changing the ship’s position and sails for wind to come in from the opposite direction, from starboard to port and vice versa.

Deadweight- the absolute maximum weight a ship can safely carry when fully loaded. Includes crew, passengers, cargo, fuel, water, and stores. Often expressed in long tons or metric tons. Measured by the displacement when the ship is empty and fully loaded.

Disembark- leaving a ship to go ashore.

Displacement Tonnage- the ship’s actual weight with its contents. One displacement ton is equal to measuring the seawater displacement while ship is afloat, is equivalent to one long ton or about one cubic meter (35ft) of saltwater.

Doldrums- regions near the equator where there’s little or no wind.

Draft- the depth of as ship’s keel below the waterline, especially when loaded. Can also be the minimum water depth necessary to float a ship.

Dressing Sails- applies to sail treatment to preserve and keep them supple in wet and cold weather. Often a mixture of ocher and linseed oil, giving the sails a reddish-brown appearance. Tar, tallow, and oak bark were also ingredients, hence the name barking sails. New sails were normally not dressed in the first year or so. Since they had to be fully stretched before application.

Druxey- fungal decay in a ship’s timbers. Characterized by whitish spots and veins.

Entry- a forepart’s form as the ship cuts through the water.

Even Keel- when the ship’s fore and back draft is equal. Or in layman’s terms, the ship’s keel is parallel to the waterline.

Fathom- a measurement unit for depth. Equals either 1.83 meters or 6ft.

Flank- a ship’s maximum speed which is faster than “full-speed” and is used only in emergencies.

Fleet- a number of ships sailing together, a number of merchant ships owned by the same company, or the whole national navy in a region or country. In the 18th century any more than 5 ships of the line was considered a fleet.

Fore or forward- referring towards the ship’s front.

Freeboard- distance between the waterline and a ship’s main deck.

Furl- to fold or roll a sail before securing it to its main support.

Furring- replanking a ship to give it more beam and freeboard.

Gross Ton- a British weight unit equal to 2240lbs.

Gunnage- number of guns carried on a warship.

Hand- a measurement unit of 4 inches. Used to describe the circumference of masts and yards among other things.

Headway- a ship’s forward motion.

Heave To- to bring a ship up in a position where it will maintain little or no headway, usually with the bow into the wind or close to.

Heeling- when a ship tilts to one side.

Hog- when the keel arches up due to structural weakness causing an improper amount of sheer and the ship being out of trim.

Holystone- a soft sandstone used for scrubbing ship decks.

Impress- to compel or force a person into serving in a specific naval force, often without haven been given any opportunity to make arrangements for leaving family or home.

Inboard- inside the ship’s line of bulwarks or hull.

Interscalm- the minimum distance between rowers or oarsmen when viewing a ship or boat from the side. Sometimes used to estimate the length of ancient galleys and other rowed ships.

Jibling- contrary to tacking and more dangerous, refers to turning back the ship so that it moves through the wind.

Keckling- the process of winding old rope around a cable with a small interval between turns in order to save the cable from being fretted or chafed by the hull.

Keel-Hauling- punishment for various offenses onboard a ship. Involved the offender plunged repeatedly under the ship’s bottom on one side before being pulled up on the other after passing the keel. It’s a particularly cruel treatment since the victim would repeatedly contact the rough hull and mind-numbingl cold seawater often added to the misery.

Knot- a measure unit used to express speed in nautical miles per hour. One knot equals 1.151 mph. Depending on the ship, wind speed, and direction, 4-12 knots was the typical speed for an Age of Sail vessel.

Knuckle- an abrupt change in direction or non-tangency in a ship’s external structure, forming a knuckle line which was the angle’s apex dividing the stern and counter’s upper and lower parts.

Larboard- a ship’s left side.

Lasten- an older Dutch term used to express a ship’s carrying capacity. Equaled 4000 Amsterdam pounds or 1976 kilos. In modern terms, 1 lasten is 2 tons.

Launch- the process of sending a newly built ship from the shipyard and into the water. Also a large dockyard boat with a broad transom which was used a ship’s boat from the 18th century on. It was often lug-rigged.

Lay By- to remain in position with the ship’s bow turned to the wind.

Lay Up- refers to a ship put in a dock for maintainance, modifications, and repairs.

League- a measurement unit equal to 3 miles or 4.8 kilometers. Previously a unit of distance equal to 3 nautical miles.

Lee- the side away from the direction from which the wind blows.

Lee Gauge- when a ship is downwind of another ship allowing its guns firing into enemy rigging.

Line of Battle- a fleet formation before entering battle. Introduced in the 17th century, fleets formed opposing lines to engage one another. Thus, bringing all their respective broadsides to bear. All ships were close-hauled when possible and about 50 fathoms (300 feet) apart.

List- when a ship leans to one side.

Meaking- extracting old oakum from a wooden ship’s seams.

Moor- to secure and hold a ship or boat in a specific location through lines, cables, and/or anchors.

Mutiny- rebellion against a ship’s constituted authority.

Nautical Mile- a measurement unit used in navigation equal to one arc minute (or 1/60 of a degree) of a great full circle sphere. One international nautical mile equivalent to 1852 meters or 1.151 miles.

Nest- when 2 or more boats are either stowed or moored alongside each other.

New Measurement- in effect from 1836, when the recording method of measurements of tonnage and other dimensions of British merchant ships was changed. In NM terms, ship beam and depth were measured from the hull’s inner edges from stem to stern for length, inner edge to inner edge for beam, and overall depth from the gunwales top to the hold’s base. NM dimensions were given in decimals of a foot.

Old Measurement- applied to measurements of ships built, registered, and surveyed before 1836, and in particular British merchant ships. In OM terms, a ship was measured by overall length, from the stem’s fore side to sternpost’s afterside. While the beam was measured from the ship’s outer edges across its widest part. The depth was an inside measurement of the hold’s depth for a single decked ship and the total space between decks for a multi-decked one. In OM, the dimensions are given in feet and inches.

Outboard- a ship’s outside perimeter.

Overboard- generally a very, very, bad thing when a passenger or crew falls from the ship into the water. Closely related to drowning.

Overlaunch- when a plank’s end overlaps with another.

Parish-Rigged- when a ship is worn with bad gear aloft due to neglect by the ship’s owner.

Pied- an Old French (Paris) measurement equivalent to the English foot. 1 pied equals .03248 meter or 1.066 ft. The Old French equivalent of an inch was the pounce and since 1 pied equaled 12 pounces, 1 pounce would be 1.066 inch or .02707 meter. Apparently, the French foot was slightly larger than the English one.

Pitch- a term for the ship’s rotational motion such as the bow and stern’s rise and fall.

Plim- when wood swells in the water.

Plimsoll Line- a mark painted on a merchant ship’s sides indicating the draught levels to which ships may be loaded under varying conditions. Made mandatory in 1876 when too many ships were lost due to being overloaded.

Port- the ship’s left side when facing toward its prow opposite of starboard.

Quintal- a weight measure of 100-120lbs.

Rake- deviation off the perpendicular.

Raking- firing a cannon along the entire enemy ship’s deck. By maneuvering at a right angle across an opponent’s bow or stern, a full broadside could be fired along an enemy ship’s length, causing much havoc. Rendering the opponent only able to bear a few bow and stern chasers.

Rate- a warship classification under to the British Admiralty’s Fighting Instructions of 1653 according to size and capabilities (guns mounted) into 6 distinct rate. A first rate was the largest and most capable, a sixth rate was the smallest and least. Though the number of guns a ship carried of a certain rate changed from time to time. Only the first 4 rates were considered fit for duty as “ships of the line.” Yet, fifth and sixth rates, and other smaller ships did join the battle where and when required.

Reef- an underwater obstruction comprised of rock or coral which can tear a ship’s bottom.

Reef Sails-to take in or lessen a sail without furling it. Depending on the sail’s location, size, and time-period, sails could be single reefed, double reefed, treble reefed, or close reefed. The last indicates that all the reefs were taken in and the minimum surface area was exposed. Between 0 and 4 reef bands were common with often 2 present.

Reeving- to pass rope or line through something else.

Roads- a saved and sheltered anchorage.

Running Before the Wind- sailing downwind.

Sarve- the process of winding something around a rope to protect it against fretting and chafing.

Scantling- a timber dimension after it’s been reduced to a standard size.

Scope- an anchor’s rode length, measured in water depth units.

Scud- when a ship runs before a gale with little or no sails set.

Seizing- binding a rope to another, or to a spar, with turns of a smaller, thinner line.
Shackle- a varying length unit most often used for measuring anchor chains’ length. Used to join anchor chain lengths which can be counted when the anchor’s dropped or raised. Lengths can be anywhere from 75-100ft. But the standard shackle’s length was 15 fathoms or 90ft though differing lengths were used through varying time periods. Can also be a U-shaped metal piece that’s closed with a pin across the end used for connecting and securing rigging parts including anchor chains.

Shanghai- to take someone against their will for compulsory service on board a ship.

Sheer Width- the distance between the sheer-line and centerline of a ship at a specific location.

Shipside- wharf or dock area next to a ship.

Shipyard- area where ships are built and repaired. Called dock or dockyard when near a body of water.

Shipworm- a troublesome wormlike marine mollusk such as the Teredo and the large Bankia, which bore into submerged wooden ship timbers and are capable of doing extensive hull damage. Think of them as the termites of the sea.

Siding- width of deck beams, crosswise ship frame members.

Slough- a shallow, muddy, swampy inlet or channel.

Spilling- the process determining the plank edges’ shape by lifting the desired plank’s shape from the hull with spilling battens.

Splice the Main Brace- breaking out extra rum rations or something rare like splicing the main brace.

Spoondrift- wind swept spray from the water’s surface.

Starboard- the ship’s right side when facing toward its prow opposite of port.

Steeve- the bowsprit’s angle in relation to the horizontal.

Stores- provisions and supplies such as food, water, shoes, arms, sailcloth, and rope aboard a ship during a sea-voyage.

Sway- the operation of hoisting the topmasts and yards of a square-rigged ship.

Tacking- a technique for sailing against the wind on a zigzag course, sailing a few degrees off the wind’s direction for a period of time, then turning through the wind and sailing for another period of time, a few degrees the other side of the wind’s direction.

Thames Measurement- a system for measuring the size of smaller ships and boats. Originally used for calculating port dues for smaller ships like yachts, the formula was also used in handicapping rules for yacht racing. Formula for Thames Tonnages consists of stempost to sternpost length minus maximum beam times maximum beam squared before divided by 188.

Unship- to remove or detach an equipment piece from its proper location onboard a ship.

Walt- when a ship required more ballast for stability.

Warp- to move or re-position by hauling on the line which, usually using one of the ship’s anchors. Can also be the measuring and laying out rigging on a sail loft before cutting to the desired final lengths.

Watch- one of 6 4-hour periods or work shifts during a day on board a ship at sea.

Waterline- the highest point where water touches the ship’s sides.

Weatherboard- a ship’s weather side.

Weather Gauge- when a ship is upwind of another where its guns can fire at the enemy hull.

Weather Side- the ship’s windward direction or side.

Weep- water leaking to the ship through cracks and seams which was why the wooden ship pumps had to be manned 24/7. Excessive weeping often occurred at launch before the planks had time to plim.

Wharf- a structure or platform like a pier or dock either built along the water’s edge or into the water for loading and unloading ships by means of cranes. Dues were paid for wharf use.

Since the second century, Chinese junk ships have been used for extensive voyages. But none were so grand like that of Admiral Zheng He’s during the Ming. His 1405 voyage had 300 of these ships including treasure ships, house ships, supply ships, troop transports, Fuchuan warships, patrol boats, and water tankers. And unlike many of the great wooden ships, Chinese junks are still used today.

While this series mostly pertains to the massive wooden sailing ships from Europe that existed from the 15th century to the early 19th up to the American Civil War, wooden ships have been with us since the dawn of water travel. Mostly because most boats were made out of wood until the late 19th century when iron and steel ship construction became the norm. Nonetheless, they come in all different shapes and sizes from all over the world from the small fishing boats in the Pacific islands to the large junks of Imperial China during the Ming Dynasty. Ancient ships and medieval ships in the west were propelled by a single sail and men rowing oars. Age of Sail ships traded, found previous unknown worlds, helped their countries build empires, and fought naval battles that made men like Admiral Horatio Nelson household names. While smaller ships were often the choice of pirates wanting to rob a merchant ship to get a way.

Ship Types:

Apple-Stern- sailing ship with a rounded stern.

Balinger- a single-masted sailing ship used in the 15th and 16th century.

Baltimore Clipper- a 2-masted fore-and-aft gaff-rigged schooner-like ship carrying square sails on the foremast and often used as a blockade runner or privateer. The masts were set at extreme angles as it was believed to provide better speed.

Barca-Longa- a 2-3 masted Mediterranean ship carrying lugsails.

Bark- a ship square-rigged on all but the furthest mast which is fore-and-aft rigged. Usually 3-masted with some 4-5 masted. Before the mid-18th century, referred to any 3-masted ship not fitting any other accepted category or nomeclature.

Barkentine- a sailing ship with 3-5 masts in which only the foremast is square-rigged, with the others fore-and-aft rigged.

Bilander- a small 2-masted merchant sailing ship used mainly on Dutch coastal routes and canals. Rarely more than 100 tons. Carried a fore-and-lateen main sail bent to a yard hanging 45 degrees to the mast.

Boejer- a small single-masted Dutch ship with an extreme rounded stem and bow, normally carrying leeboards. Had a very shallow draft but relatively tall mast. Intended for use on canals, rivers, and coastal regions.

Bomb Vessel- a ship developed by French corsairs which used a high trajectory mortar instead of conventional guns. Had a strengthened hull to take the weight of 2 or more mortars and the foremast was completely omitted. Late 18th century bomb vessels had a full 3-masted rig and some were used for perilous polar expeditions since their sturdily built hulls held up well in ice.

Bootship- an 18th century 3-masted ship with a rounded bow and stern along with a flat or rounded tafferel. Developed of the earlier 17th century Fluyt, it was either square-rigged on all masts with a spanker on the mizzen or had a fore-and-aft gaff-rigged mizzen.

Brig Ship- a 2-masted square-rigged ship with the main mast carrying a fore-and-aft sail as well.

Brigantine- a 2-masted ship with square sails on the foremast and fore-and-aft sails on the main mast. Also referred to a variety of 2-masted square-rigged ships in the 17th century.

Buss- a relatively large 2 or 3 masted European ship from the 15th-17th centuries mainly used for the North Sea herring fishery. About 200 tons in size.

Caique- a light sailing ship used in the Easter Mediterranean. Also the name of a long, narrow rowboat used in the Middle East.

Caracore- a small, light, and swift sailboat with a single triangular or rectangular sail and an outrigger that originated in the East Indies. Also called a Proa.

Caravel- a relatively small but light maneuverable Portuguese ship from the 15th and 16th centuries setting lateen sails on 2-4 and sometimes setting a single square sail on the foremast. When lateen-rigged, it’s called a “caravel latina.” When square-rigged, it’s called a “caravel redonda.”

Carrack- a large 3-4 masted ship developed from the earlier cog. Used from the 14th to 17th centuries, usually with elevated structures at the bow and stem.

Clipper- a variety of merchant ships built between 1790 and 1870. Often thought of as some of the most beautiful and elegant ships ever built.

Coble- a small clinker-built open fishing boat from the northeastern English and Scottish coast. Characterized by a relatively high bow, exaggerated sheer and shallow draft, often setting a high lugsail.

Cocca- a Mediterranean equivalent to the cog from the 14th century which was a 1-2 masted square-rigged and clinker-built ship.

Cog- a single-masted, clinker-built ship with a single square sail, 3 decks, high sides, relatively flat bottom, and rounded bilge. Was used from the 900s to the 15th century.

Collier- a broad beamed and shallow draught merchant sailing ship designed to transport coal between ports.

Corvette- the smallest of the 3-masted square-rigged sailing warships. Used primarily for reconnaissance. Armed with 8-22 guns on only one deck.

Crayer- a small, single-masted and slow merchant vessel. Built solely for maximum hold capacity, not for its sailing qualities.

Cutter- a fast-sailing, fore-and-aft rigged, single-masted ship usually setting double headsails. Used for patrol and dispatch services. Ship of choice for English smugglers during the 18th century. Largest were up to 150 tons burden and could carry up to 12 guns. Also a clinker-built ship’s boat used for travel between ship and shore.

Dhow- a lateen-rigged sailing ship from the Middle East. Early dhows were usually shell-first construction. Come in several types depending on their hull shape. A ghanjah was a large 2-3 masted ship with a curved stem and a long sloping and often ornately carved transom from India. A baglah was a traditional 2-masted deep sea dhow with a transom usually having 5 windows and a poop deck similar to galleons and caravels. The smaller battil featured a long stem topped by a large, club-shaped stemhead and a sternpost decorated with cowrie shells and leather. The much smaller badan was a single-masted shallow draught used for fishing and oyster diving. Other large seagoing dhows were the double-ended boom with its large stem pointing to the heavens and a bowsprit flying a jib and the sambuk.

Dogger- a 2-masted fishing ship resembling a ketch.

Down Easter- a square-rigged merchant ship combining large carrying capacity with a relatively sharp hull. Built in Maine during the late 19th century.

East Indiaman- a large and heavily armed European merchant ship used for trade in the East Indies.

Felucca- a narrow, swift, and lateen-rigged sailing ship used on the Nile and Mediterranean.

Fifth Rate- a sailing warship with 32-44 guns.

Fireship- a ship or boat deliberately set on fire and steered to collide with a large enemy ship in order to set it on fire and destroy it. Often used in the 17th century to finish off disabled enemy ships.

First Rate- a sailing “ship of the line” warship with 100 or more guns on 3 gun decks.

Flagship- a sailing warship carrying the Admiral (or fleet commander) and his flag. Normally the most powerful ship in a squadron or fleet.

Fluyt- a classic 3-masted square-rigged merchant ship from the 17th and 18th century. Invented by the Dutch as an economical operation with carrying the largest cargo and smallest crew possible. Had a wide balloon-like hull rounding at the stem and bow as well as a very narrow, high stern. Due to being lightly armed, it was very ill-suited for dealing with pirates, privateers, or any other armed opposition.

Fourth Rate- a sailing “ship of the line” warship with 50-60 guns on 2 gun decks.

Frigate- a 3-masted sailing warship with 2 full decks but only one gun deck. Armed between 30-40 guns mostly on the gun deck and possibly some on the quarter deck and forecastle. Used in the 18th and 19th centuries as reconnaissance as well as myriad of other duties. Term was synonymous with warship in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Fully-Rigged Ship- a ship with 3 or more square-rigged masts.

Galeas- a 2-3 masted Scandinavian merchant ship from the 18th and 19th centuries, developed from the Dutch galjoot but with a square stern.

Galjoot- a fast sailing draught Dutch ship. Often used as a coastal merchant ship from the 17th and 18th centuries. Had a rounded stern and bow. Though thought of as a 1 ½ masted small ship, some were as large as 700 tons and had a full 3-masted rig. Also occasionally used as bomb vessels due to its stability and durability.

Gallea- a large, 3-masted galley/galleon hybrid of the 16th and 17th centuries that used both sails and oars. Derived from earlier galleys, it was a very powerful warship of its day, very successful at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

Galleon- a square-rigged, 3-4 masted sailing ship from the 16th to the 18th centuries. While most often identified with the Spanish and Portuguese, many other European nations used it.

Galley- an oared fighting ship in the Mediterranean used many centuries BCE until well into the 18th century. Also used in the Baltic and many other northern European nations, but not to such extent. A scaloccio galley was rowed by groups of 3-7 men on a bench pulling a single oar. An ala sensible galley was rowed by a single rower per oar, sometimes 2-3 on a bench. Top galley speed with full oar was usually estimated at 7-8 knots.

Galliot- a light and fast Mediterranean galley.

Ghost Ship- either a ship appearing as a ghostly apparition or one found floating at sea with no sign of the crew.

Gig- a 2-masted coastal vessel carrying lugsails. Or a wide-beamed 18th century ship’s boat often reserved for the captain.

Hermaphrodite Brig- a 2-masted ship with a square-rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft-rigged mainmast. Has a square topsail on the mainmast.

Hooker- a single to 3 masted coastal fishing ship similar to a smack but with square sails on the mainmast. Can also be slang for an outdated, obsolete, unwieldly, or just plain ugly ship.

Hoy- a single to 3 masted coastal merchant and fishing ship from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Hulk- a medieval ship with plank ends parallel to the stern and sternposts. Or a ship that’s fallen into disuse or is used in a static role like in a sheer hulk or a prison hulk.

Jaght- a 3-masted, lightly armed, and speed-built Dutch merchant ship from the 17th century. Often used in convoys to and from the East Indies as well as for exploration voyages. Usually slightly large than the fluyt.

Jagt- a single-masted Scandinavian inland and coastal merchant ship from the 17th to 19th centuries.

Junk- a Chinese sailing ship with bamboo sail battens and a long overhanging counter. Originally developed in the 5th century.

Ketch- a 2-masted ship with the mizzenmast stepped in front of the rudder head. Usually fore-and-aft rigged but could have square sails. Was usually a 100-250 burthen size. Often used as a bombard vessel.

Knarr- a clinker-built Viking ship that was exceptionally sturdy on the rough seas. Broader in the beam and had more draught than a longship. Also more reliant on using sails for propulsion rather than oars.

Koch- a Russian clinker-built ship used for Arctic expeditions.
Lightship- an anchored ship acting as a floating lighthouse where building a lighthouse wasn’t possible or impractical. Would display a light from the mast’s top and sound a fog signal in case of fog.

Lobya- a Russian river, lake, or sea vessel until the 16th century and later.

Longship- generally thought as the Viking warship, it was a 45-148ft galley with up to 40 oars on each side, a square sail on a removable mast, and a 40-80 man capacity. Double-ended and built shell-first with overlapping planks.

Lugger- a small ship rigged with one or more lugsails on 2 or 3 masts and 1-3 jibs set on the bowsprit. Usually outperformed square-rigged ships on coastal tideways but required a larger crew than one of similar size. Frequently used by smugglers and privateers around the English Channel during the 18th century.

Man O’War- a term applied to a ship specifically built for war.

Merchantman- any ship used for trade.

Monkey- a small 16th century coastal merchantman which carried a square sail on a single mast.

Nabby- a Scottish lug-rigged boat with an extreme rake to the mast, usually also setting a jib.

Nao- a classic medium-sized Spanish ship from the Age of Exploration. Had a fully developed 3-masted rig and often a small topsail on the mainmast.

Nef- also known as a roundship, a single-2 masted clinker-built ship in medieval Europe until the 15th century. Used as transporting soldiers during the Crusades. Descendant of the Viking longship, it still had a side-rudder and was used in northern regions a century or two longer with a sternpost rudder.

Packet- a generic name for a ship sailing in regular service between 2 ports.

Pattamar- a 1-3 masted lateen-rigged dhow like ship used off India’s west coast.
Penteconter- an ancient Greek galley with 50 oars, 25 on each side set in a single bank.

Pink- a 2-3 masted 18th century Dutch ship.

Pinnace- a variety of relatively small ships generally having 2 fore-and-aft rigged masts. Or a 17th century ship’s boat usually rowed by 8 oars.

Polacre- a 3-masted Mediterranean ship. Usually square-rigged on the main mast and lateen-rigged on the foremast and mizzenmast. Though some carried square sails on all 3 masts. Also typically carried one piece pole-masts with neither top masts nor topgallant masts present.

Polyreme- a variety of Phoenician, Greek, or Roman war galleys which had 2 levels of oars, each rowed by half the men indicated by the number.

Pram- a clinker-built small boat with a transom at both ends. Though the bow transom was usually smaller than the stern transom.

Privateer- a privately owned ship intent on raiding enemy shipping in wartime for the purpose of making a profit from the captured ships’ sale, including any cargo onboard. Unlike a pirate, a privateer was commissioned by a government like a mercenary. Dangerous business all around since a privateer would often mistake a “friendly” ship for fair game with the consequence of rapidly being promoted to pirate.

Qarib- a small 2-masted lateen-rigged ship. Common in Egypt in the 11th century sailing down the Nile from Cairo as far west as Tunisia and Sicily.

Quinquereme- a Mediterranean war galley with 3 banks of oars on 2 levels being rowed by 2 men each. Used by Greeks of the Hellenistic period and later by the Carthaginians and Romans from the 5th century BCE to the 1st century.

Retour Ship- generic name for a collection of different but heavily armed, and well-manned merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company. They were specifically designed for the long roundtrip voyage from the Netherlands to the East Indies.

Roundship- a clinker-built medieval merchant ship with a rounded stern and bow. Often had a 2-masted rig with a small foresail.

Schooner- a ship rigged with fore-and-aft sails on 2 or more masts. A topsail schooner sets 1-3 square sails on the foremast as well. Consists of many types like a Tern Schooner, Scow Schooner, Coastal Schooner, and Grand Banks Schooner. A Bald-Headed Schooner is a slang term for a schooner to have no set topsails at all.

Scow- a variety of flat-bottomed ships used for carrying cargo. Often had a sloping square bow and stern. Similar to a barge, has a simple hull construction and maximum carrying capacity.

Scow Schooner- a flat-bottomed square-ended schooner-rigged ship mainly used in the later 19th century Great Lakes on the North American coastal routes while carrying the bulk of the continent’s cargo. Often used centerboards or leeboards.

Second Rate- a sailing “ship of the line” warship with 84-98 guns on 2 or 3 gun decks.
Shallop- a 2-masted ship usually carying lugsails. Can also be a 17th century ship’s boat used as a tender. Had no keel but used leeboards instead. Can be propelled by oars or sails.

Sheer Hulk- a cut-down old ship fitted with a pair of sheers used to hoist masts up to another ship being built or repaired. It’s the maritime equivalent to a junkyard car used for scrap parts.

Ship- according to the 18th and 19th centuries, a first rank sailing vessel with a bowsprit and 3 or more square-rigged masts, each composed of a lowermast, topmast, and topgallant mast.

Ship of the Line- a sailing warship built to fight in the battle line with each ship forming a line allowing it to fire full broadside salvos at the opponent. Were usually fourth rate or above. But most were third rate of 74 guns.

Sixth Rate- sailing warship with 20-30 guns.

Slave Ship- either a purpose built or a common merchant ship retro-fit with irons to hold or accommodate securely holding “special cargo.” Slaves were often packed and shackled side by side to fit as many in the hold as possible. Life aboard a wooden ship sailing from Africa to America was perilous enough for the crew, let alone for the “passengers” being transported from the deck below. Scared, cramped, sick, alone dehumanized, the horrors slaves faced are unspeakable. Just enough care was taken to keep most of the slaves alive. It was just a very lucrative business for slave traders who transported and traded them like wheat and wool.

Sloop- a single-masted fore-and-aft rigged ship, setting a mainsail and generally a single jib or headsail. Generally had a mast located more forward than the cutter.

Sloop-of-War- a name given to the smallest sailing warships having 8-22 guns on only one deck. Either fully rigged as ships or as snows.

Smack- originally a relatively large cutter-rigged merchant ship. Later a small single or 2-masted coastal fishing or merchant ship that’s fore-and-aft rigged with a 2-masted variant similar to a ketch. Characterized by a long horizontal running bowsprit.

Snow- a square-rigged ship, differing from a brig only in that it has a trysail mast close behind the mainmast, on which a trysail was hoisted.

Spiegelschip- Dutch term for a ship with a distinctive flat stern and tafferel.

Tarides- a small sail and/or oar powered transport ship used from the Dark Ages to about the 12th century. Early equivalent of landing craft with doors used as ramps for loading and unloading men and their horses.

Tartan- a small and nimble single or 2-masted lateen-rigged ship originating from the Middle East and Africa’s north coast. Like the xebec, often associated with Barbarian corsairs.

Tender- a ship attending to another such as one ferrying supplies and personnel from ship to shore.

Tern Schooner- a 3-masted schooner of 200-400 tons used for carrying cargo in North America during the late 19th century.

Third Rate- sailing “ship of the line” warship with 64-80 guns on 2 gun decks.

Tjalk- a Dutch flat-bottomed ship with rounded ends and leeboards. Used to carry freight and often used as a pleasure yacht.

Triaconter- an ancient Greek galley with 30 oars, 15 on each side set in a single bank.
Trireme- a ancient Phoenician, Greek, or Roman war galley propelled by 3 tiers of oars on each side, each oar pulled by a single man. Used from the 7th to 4th century BCE. Had a shell-first, mortise-and-tenon hull planked with fir, cedar, or pine along a solid oak keel.

Turtle Ship- a 16th century Korean armored warship. Fitted with an iron shell top with sharp spikes for protection and to prevent boarding. Had a red pine hull and carried cannons. Developed and built by Admiral Yi Soon Shin in 1592 who led the Koreans to victory in the Im Jin War.

Van- the ship or ships leading a fleet or squadron.

Velocera- an Italian coastal merchant ship.

Vessel- a craft designed for water transportation.

Vinco- a 3-masted 19th century Italian ship with lateen sails on the main and mizzen masts and square sails on the foremast.

Vileboat- a small 3-masted ship with a broad beam, shallow draft, and a high narrow stern originating from the mid-16th century in the Netherlands. Though designed as merchant ships to navigate rivers and coastal waters, it was also used for exploration and military duties.

Well Found- a ship that’s all-around sound that’s well-built and equipped. With good and regular maintenance, a well found ship can have a lifespan up to 50 years. Lesser built ships only lasted 5-10 years.

West Indiaman- a relatively heavily armed European merchant ship used for trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Whaler- a sturdy purpose built ship with a large hold. Though intended for capturing whales, many were used on polar expeditions and/or by navies around the world due to their sturdy nature.

Windjammer- a large 2-3 masted merchant ship built between 1870 and 1890 constructed with an all-iron hull and often displacing several thousand tons. The last of the large merchant sailing ships.

Xebec- a relatively small 3-masted lateen-rigged ship favored by the Barbary corsairs operating off the North African coast. Had a long and narrow hull and was fitted with oars like its galley predecessors. Adopted by French and Spanish navies.

Yacht- any of a variety of small sailing ships often used for personal transportation watercraft or a personal pleasure boat.

Yawl- originally a double-ended clinker-built Scandinavian ship, later a small 2-masted sailing ship with the mizzenmast stepped behind the rudder post. Also a ship’s small boat consisting of a sailboat with a main sail and one or more jibs. And usually containing 4-6 oars.

Zabra- a 16th century sailing ship which was used for dispatch, transport, and other utilitarian duties.

Built in 1765 as an East India Merchantman for France, the USS Bonhomme Richard was placed at the disposal by John Paul Jones in 1779 as a loan during the American Revolution. While taking a beating by the HMS Serapis, it’s from this ship where Jones stated after being called to surrender, “Sir, I have not yet begun the fight.” Though it won the Battle of Flamborough Head and captured the Serapis, it sank shortly after. Nonetheless, the battle’s outcome was one of the factors convincing the French crown to back the colonies to become independent.

A series on wooden ship parts wouldn’t be complete without discussing the ship’s guns, boats, and insignia. Since sailing the open seas may involve naval battles and encounters with pirates, most of these their share of guns which mostly consisted of cannon. While naval battles and pirate encounters are often depicted in movies as glorious spectacles with lots of swordfights, they were actually quite horrifying involving cannonballs, bullets, and debris flying everywhere. And if you got hit, there was little chance you’d survive the encounter, at least with all your limbs since early modern medical care was appallingly dreadful. But wooden warships had different kinds of cannon and shot classified by the weight and depending on the damage they wanted to inflict on their enemies. Then we have the ship’s boats which were often used as landing craft, rescue boats, reconnaissance, whaling, and even life boats should the ship wreck, mutiny, or be lost in some kind of catastrophe. Yet, while these often consisted of rowboats, some of them also had sails of their own but to a lesser extent. And finally, we get to the insignia which consist of the ship’s flags to identify the country it’s from, its type, and communicate messages with other ships through some kind of flag code.

The Guns:

Bar Shot- an iron bar with a half-sphere from each end. Fired from a cannon to damage an enemy ship’s rigging. Also, a cannonball cut in half with an iron bar wrought in between.

Basilisk- a generic term for a bronze cannon of exceptional power. Used in the 15th and 16th centuries. Named after the ‘king serpent’ or dragon of legend which had a supposed deadly breath or stare. From the 17th century on, a term for a ship’s cannon firing 14 ½ pound stone or iron roundshot.

Bow Chaser or chase gun- a cannon mounted in the ship’s bow used in a chase at sea.

Brass Monkey- a brass tray for holding cannon balls. In cold conditions, it would contract and expel cannon balls it holds.

Breech- a cannon’s solid metal base from the cascabel to the concave inside bore.

Canister Shot- a canister filled with small solid balls for inflicting damage on personnel, rigging, and sails. Think of it as giant shotgun ammunition.

Cannon- an artillery weapon made of bronze or iron from the 16th century on which is usually mounted on a wheeled gun carriage. Early ship’s cannons resembled nothing more than a barrel strapped to a plank with the ‘plank’ later developed into the full gun carriage. Elevation angle could be altered by moving a wooden wedge-like block called a quoin, under the barrel’s base. Size ranged from a 4 pounder to a 60 pounder with “pounder” meaning the shot’s weight. In and before the 16 century, cannons were classified by size. By the 18th century, cannons were classified by the kind of roundshot they fired. A typical cannon’s muzzle velocity was anywhere between 900-1700 fps with a practical range of 400 to 600 meters. Smoothbore, black-powder cannon remained the dominant artillery until the mid-19th century.

Cannon-Perier- a ship’s cannon firing 24 ½ lb stone or iron shot.

Cannon-Royal- the original designation for a cannon firing 60-66 lb stone or iron roundshot.

Capsquare- a metal covering plate for a gun carriage, which passes over the cannon’s trunnions, and holds it in place while allowing pivot.

Carronade- a type of heavy ship armament mounted on a non-moving sliderail, rather than a wheeled carriage. Carronades are usually more powerful, but less accurate and with less range than a cannon. But at short range, it can be enormously destructive to the ship’s timbers. Adding these guns on a ship wasn’t reflected in the ship’s nominal gun rate. A 52-gun ship mounting 10 carronades was still desiganted as a 42.

Chain Shot- a chain with a solid ball at each end, fired from a cannon to inflict damage to a ship’s rigging and masts.

Culverin- a long-barreled heavy cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries. Often an 18-pounder with 2 serpent-shaped handles and a muzzle velocity of over 1200 fps.

Demi-Cannon- a heavy cannon. Usually a 30-36 pounder.

Demi-Culverin- a long barreled cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries. Normally a 9-13 pounder.

Falcon- a small anti-personnel cannon. Usually a 2-3 pounder.

Falconet- a small anti-personnel cannon. Usually a 1-1 ½ pounder.

Grapeshot- usually a canvas bag filled with golf-ball sized solid balls, placed over a metal plate fitting to the cannon’s bore. And fired to inflict damage to personnel, rigging, and sails.

Gun- a generic term for a carriage mounted cannon in warships. By the 18th century, guns were rated according to the weight of shot fired, anywhere from 1 pounder to 42 pounders.

Hollow Shot- a cast iron ball with a hollow interior filled with gunpowder. One of the culprits that made wooden warships obsolete.

Lombard- a small cannon used in the 15th and early 16th centuries used by the Spanish and Portuguese.

Long Nine- a cannon that fires a nine-pound shot at an extra-long range.

Minion- a type of cannon, usually a 4-5 pounder.

Mortar- a piece of high trajectory artillery that’s shorter and wider than a cannon. Used to bombard a target from above. A bomb vessel’s main armament.

Murderer- a small anti-personnel cannon.

Patero- a swivel gun.

Port-Piece- a small or short range cannon firing 8-12lb shot. Sometimes all the ship’s guns were referred as port pieces.

Quoin- a wooden wedge used to raise or lower a cannon’s breech to the proper to the proper level for targeting.

Rabonet- a small anti-personnel cannon, usually around a 1/3 pounder.

Rammer- a wooden rod to push the charge (gunpowder) and shot down into a cannon’s breech.

Roundshot- a cannonball. Like a solid stone and later iron ball fired from a cannon.

Saker- a relatively small cannon. Usually a 4-9 pounder.

Serpentine- a small anti-personnel cannon. Usually a ½ pounder.

Shot- general term for all projectiles fired from a ship’s guns.

Shot Rack- a wooden frame holding shot. Usually in multiple and easily accessible locations near the guns.

Six-Pounders- cannons that typically fire a 6lb iron ball.

Slow Match- a rope of braided hemp, often infused with gunpowder that slowly burned like a candle wick and was applied to the cannon’s touch hole in order to fire it.

Sponge- a damp sheepskin sponge attached to a wooden rod’s end or rope end used to extinguish any smoldering residue or embers in a cannon after firing. Meant to prevent a new charge from prematurely igniting for obvious safety reasons.

Star Shot- a small iron ring holding a dozen or so pivoting weighted bars which when fired from a cannon, spread out like a “star” to do damage to a ship’s rigging and crew.

Stern Chaser- a cannon mounted in the ship’s stern aimed behind the ship for use if it’s being chased.

Tomkin- a bung (wooden stopper) used as a cannon muzzle plug to prevent water from entering the gun.

Trunnion- a cylindrical projection on a cannon’s each side forming the axis on which it pivots, and by which it rests on a gun-carriage. Normally located near the cannon’s center of gravity, closer to the breech and base.

Turret- a high part on a military ship where guns are attached used to turn to shoot the guns in any direction.

Wad- a ball or cylinder rolled from old rope yarns and hay that acted as a stop keeping the shot and charge of power in the cannon’s breech while the ship was in motion at sea.

Worm- an iron corkscrew for removing the charge and wad or the charge’s remnants after the last cannon fire to avoid material build-up in the cannon’s barrel.

The Boats:

Barge- a 17th century long and narrow ship’s boat rowed by 10-20 oars and often used to transport senior officials.

Boat- a small open vessel for water travel by rowing or sailing. Used as a tender for shore landing parties, towing, warping, rescue missions, patrols, escape from mutiny, and more. Come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on time-period, geography, and function.

Currach- a small rounded boat made of hides stretched over a wicker frame.

Dinghy- a small wooden sailing boat. Often a tender to a larger ship.

Dory- a small, narrow flat-bottomed and shallow draft boat between 15-20ft long. Has usually high sides, sharp prow, and propelled by oars.

Jolly Boat- an all-purpose boat onboard a ship.

Longboat- the largest boat carried onboard a larger ship. Propelled by sail or oars.

Oar- a flattened wooden pole flattened at the outboard end when pulled. Used in pairs to propel a rowboat forward. Consists of 3 parts: a broad blade for making water contact, a shaft which is its main length, and the loom or handle.

Oarlock- a metal piece holding a rowboat’s oar.

Pot Boat- an ancient boat made from clay or similar material for use in inland waterways.

Punt- a 14-18ft square ended rowboat.

Quarter Boat- a boat hung from or located on a ship’s quarter.

Ro- a traditional Japanese sculling oar, similar to the Chinese yuloh.

Rowlock- a U-shaped or O-shaped hole cut in a ship boat’s gunwale where an oar is located, or any number of devices providing a pivot point for an oar while rowing. Often consisted of a swiveling U-shaped or O-shaped holder located just above the gunwale.

Skiff- a small, flat-bottomed ship’s boat with a small pointed bow and a square stem. Can be propelled by oars or sails.

Stretcher- a staff or wooden bar fixed athwart the boat’s bottom for a sailor’s feet to push off against while rowing.

Sweep- a long and heavy oar used for propelling a ship or boat.

Thole- a vertical wood piece in rowboat’s side to keep an oar in place.

Thwart- a usually traverse seat used to maintain the topsides’ shape in a small rowing boat.

Wherry- a light and fast 17th century ship’s boats.

Yuloh- a long Chinese oar placed over the stern used for both steering and sculling without being taken out of the water.

The Insignia:

Burgee- a small ship’s flag used for identification or signaling.

Ensign- a large standard, banner, or flag. Hoisted on the ensign-staff. Used to distinguish ships from different nations from each other and to characterize different naval squadrons.

Flag- the colors by which one nation is distinguished from another. Flown from the fore, main, or mizzen mast. On a warship, a banner signifying the Admiral’s ship from all the others in the squadron.

Jack- a flag to indicate nationality. Can be flown on either bow or stern.

Signal Flags- flags used for ship to ship communication. Were read from top to bottom and were possibly flown from halyards on all masts to convey a message or condition onboard. A ship usually in the harbor and on special occasion may be dressed with signal flags along the ship’s entire length just for show.

Launched in 1854 by the United States Navy, the USS Constellation was the last-sail only warship. Built out of the disassembled timbers of the 1797 Constellation, this corvette sloop-of-war was in service for close to a century, including a stint in a blockade during the American Civil War, before its retirement to museum duty at Baltimore Harbor in 1954.

While the ship’s main part is the hull, the decks are where the action happens. A deck often refers to a ship’s covering over a compartment. On a typical ship, the upper deck constitutes of a horizontal structure forming its roof to resist tension, compression, and racking forces, and serves as the primary working station while protecting the ship’s interior from the weather. Yet, wooden ships of the Age of Sail often had more than one level both within the hull and in superstructures above the primary deck that’s similar to a multi-story building. While wooden ships then were nowhere near the floating metropolises like today’s cruises, they had plenty of compartments built over certain superstructure areas as well as within the hull. Decks with specific names can also have specific purposes. Nevertheless, traditional wood decks consisted of planks laid front to back over beams along carlins that were caulked and paid with tar. As for compartments, you have a berth for the seamen along with a kitchen, a sickbay, a brig for prisoners, a gun magazine, and storage space for supplies and cargo. Strangely these watertight bulkhead compartments were invented by the Chinese which strengthened the junks and slowed flooding in case of holing during the Han to Song Dynasties. This application soon found its way to Europe through Indian and Arab merchants.

The Decks:

Aftercastle- a medieval tower-like structure placed near the sailing warship’s stern where soldiers stood and fought during battle.

After Deck- deck behind a ship’s bridge.

Awning- a canopy over a weather deck, gallery, or quarter gallery intended to shield officers and crew from the sun in warmer climates or hot weather. Often made of extra sail material.

Beak Head- a small platform at the fore part of a large ship’s upper deck.

Beam or arm- a timber piece perpendicular to a ship’s sides supporting the deck. Supported on the ship’s sides by right angle timbers called knees. Also used to identify objects in relation to those perpendicular to the ship that are visible from the port or starboard side. Can even be the hull’s widest point from one side to the other.

Belaying Pin- a removable wooden, iron, or brass pin fitted into a rail hole. Used for securing and tying the running rigging. Also made a handy club in hand-to-hand combat situations.

Belfry- a usually single arch structure from which the ship’s bell was hung. After 1660, often located at the forecastle.

Bilge Pump- a manual pump with the inlet set at the bilge’s lowest point where water collects when the ship is upright. Most common was the hand-pump or elm-pump. Often located on the highest deck not open to the weather. The more complex and effective chain-pump was used by the British Royal Navy in the late 17th century.

Buckler- portable cover secured over the deck opening hawsepipes and the chain pipes to restrict the water flow through the openings.

Bulwark- the planking along the ship’s sides which are above the deck and below the gunwales. Act as a railing to prevent passengers and crew from falling or being washed overboard.

Cable Bitts- 2 strong vertical timbers of cables when at anchor.

Camber- slight arch or convexity to a ship’s beam or deck.

Cants or deck cants- sole pieces following the ship’s deck inclination. They’re rebated for framing such as bulkheads, etc.

Capstan- an apparatus used for hoisting anchors or other objects. Consists of a vertical spool-shaped cylinder that’s manually rotated around which a cable is wound. Often fitted with removable wooden arms fitted into sockets on which the seamen push. Sea shanties were often chanted to keep the sailors together as they pushed. Located in the ship’s center line, sometimes through several deck levels. A dog or pawl ratchet mechanism was located at or below the base to prevent the capstan from slipping back.

Carlin- a timber piece running back and forth between the main tranverse beams which it secures together. Also used to describe timbers used to frame the partners.

Carlin Sole or carlin runner- grooved timber or head to secure the framing top edges on ship’s decks and to form a structural part of the cornice. Fixed to the deck carlins or beams.

Carrick Bitts- bitts for belaying hawsers.

Catwalk- a narrow, elevated walkway, connecting the quarter deck section to the forecastle.

Cleat- a wooden or metal object used to tie a rope around to fasten something in place on a ship. Often T-shaped.

Coaming- raised edge to deck openings to keep water out.

Companionway- stairs from a ship’s upper deck to a lower deck.

Crab- a small and sometimes portable capstan used for lifting equipment and cargo.

Davit- a device for hoisting and lowering a boat as well as heavy equipment and objects.

Deck- a top horizontal surface covering a ship’s hull from one side to the other. Meant to keep water and weather out of the hull as well as stiffen it while allowing the crew to run the ship more easily. Also can be a horizontal platform corresponding to a floor in a building or a permanent covering over a compartment.

Deck Beam- a heavy timber running across from the top frame under the deck. Usually has a gentle upward curve for extra strength, extra height below deck along the center line, and to allow water to run off deck when the ship is upright.

Deck Chine- waterway part above deck joining the spirketing.

Deckhouse- a cabin protruding above the ship’s deck.

Deck Planks- timbers forming the ship’s deck floors.

Ensign-Staff- a long pole hung over the poop used to hoist the ensign.

Fairlead- a U-shape or circular fitting often positioned near the bow leading an anchor warp or sheet to a cleat or winch. Usually bronze since it must take the warp or chain’s regular abrasion. Typically set on the angle change between the deck and topside to prevent wear and tear. Can also be a pulley block of leading line to in the proper direction and prevent sagging or chafing.

Fender, belting, or rubbing piece- a rope or piece around a ship to protect it from knocks when it comes in contact with a wharf or dock.

Fiddle or fiddle rail- a low wooden rail designed to stop things from sliding off a table at sea when the ship is heeled.

Flitch- one in a number of planks used in creating a heavy beam.

Flush Deck- a continuous ship’s deck laid from stem to stern without any break.

Forecastle or fo’c’sle- the upper deck section located at the bow and in front of the foremast. Though it was originally a tower-like structure on a sailing warship where soldiers stood and fought from during battle. Can also be a superstructure on a merchant ship’s bow containing the crew’s living quarters.

Freeing Port- a hole opening in the bulwark at deck level to drain water from there.

Gallows, gallows bitts, or gallows frame- a wooden frame above the deck in the center of a large ship where its boats and spare spars are kept.

Gangplank- a long narrow board or ramp used as a removable footway between a ship and a pier or two boats to walk across.

Gangway- can be a passage along either side of a ship’s upper deck, a gangplank, or an injection used to clear a passage through a crowded area.

Grab Rail- a length of strong wood with short legs which is bolted to the cabin floor so crew making their way forward on a sloping and wet side have a firm handhold.

Gun Deck- any full-length deck carrying a ship’s guns. There could be up to 3 for large deep draught warships such as the upper or main gun deck, the middle gun deck, and the lower gun deck. Though few warships were built with 4 gun decks, they weren’t very successful.

Gunwale, gunnel, or gunwall- a boat’s elevated side edges which strengthen its structure and act as a railing around the gun deck. In warships, the gunwale has openings where heavy cannons or guns are positioned.

Half-Beam- short beam introduced to support the deck where there’s no framing such as the hatch coamings.

Hand Spike- one of several wooden levers used for turning a windlass or capstan. One end was rectangular or square and would fit into a slot or hole in a barrel. Also used whenever a sturdy lever was needed for any other purposes.

Hatch- a ship’s deck opening. Often rectangular and covered by gratings for below deck access or access to the hold for stowing and retrieving cargo or stores.

Horse- a wooden rod or iron bar running across the deck to allow a fore-and-aft sail’s sheet to traverse from side to side according to the tack.

Kevel- a large and sturdy wooden belaying pin for with heavy cables.

King Plank- a flat, notched timber laid over the foredeck beams between the front of a cockpit or cabin and the stem. The notches are designed so that the tapering deck planks don’t end at a potential weak point.

Lazaret- a ship’s space between decks used for stowing provisions.

Ledgers- pieces between beams under a deck.

Loggerhead- a post on a whaling ship used for securing lines attached to a harpoon.

Lower Deck- the second deck containing guns on a warship if the ship had 2 decks containing a full complement of guns.

Lutchet- a ship’s deck fitting allowing mast to pivot to past under bridges.

Lumber Iron- a forked iron crutch or stanchion. Usually located upright on gunwales to hold oars or extra spars.

Main Deck- on warships the highest deck deck. Often had a full complement of guns.

Merger Board- a strong bulkhead on the ship’s fore part to keep water out of the hawseholes.

Middle Deck- if a warship carried 3 decks of guns, it carried the third.

Orlop- lowest ship deck on a ship with 4 or more. Used for covering storage and keeping ammunition.

Pawl Bitts- a hinged or pivoted catch designed to build into a ratchet wheel’s notch, to move it forward in one direction while preventing it from slipping back.

Poop- an enclosed structure, a rear part of a deck.

Poop Deck- the ship’s short and furthest deck raised above the quarter deck. Usually at the large ship’s stern and typically above the captain’s quarters.

Quarter Deck- the after part of a ship’s upper deck behind the main mast where command was executed and was often reserved for officers. Often included the poop deck. Usually set aside by captain for ceremonial functions. Often stationed cannons.

Rail- rounded part at the bulwark’s upper edge.

Scupper- opening along a ship’s deck edges that allows water on deck to drain back into the sea rather than collecting in the bilge.

Scut- small crack or chink in deck.

Ship-Lap- a dovetailed halving joint for coamings’ corners.

Skylight- a window set at an angle to the ship’s deck to give light and ventilation to the cabin below.

Spar Deck- a deck extending from stem to stern above the main deck. Usually devoid of guns but not always. Not found on a merchant ship.

Sponson- platform jutting from a ship’s deck for a gun or wheel.

Spray Board- gunwale board to check spray.

Stanchion- upright support set on the upper deck to carry a guard rail.

Standard- vertical inverted knees above a ship’s deck.

Superstructure- part of the ship above the main deck.

Timberhead- ship’s timber top end projecting above the deck and gunwale.

Tiller- a long handle on the ship’s back used for controlling direction. Attached to a rudder’s head.

Toe Rail- an upright longitudinal wooden strip fastened to the foredeck near the sheer. Placed on the foredeck so that crew working there can brace their toe or foot against it, especially when heeled.

Washboard- a broad, thin, plank along the ship’s gunwale to keep out sea water.

Wash Strake- plank above a ship’s gunwale.

Waterway- deck planks nearest the bulwark round the ship’s sides. Usually grooved with a channel to carry out water via run-off.

Weather Deck- a ship’s deck having little or no protection from the weather.

Winch- a geared mechanical device used for adjusting sail sheets, hoisting large sails with halyards, or hauling an anchor out of the water. A normal turret winch is set on the back side deck for trimming headsails or on a spinnaker. Manual trimming winches are operated by initially grinding the handle in a circle before pulling back and towards on a short lever while a second pulls the tension on the sheet to obtain optimum force.

The Bridge:

Astrolabe- a navigational instrument consisting of a dial showing degrees with an alidade arm pivoting through the center. The arm had a projection with a small hole on each end used to line these up so a celestial body would be visible through its degree markings would indicate the celestial object’s angle in the night sky. Used to determine a ship’s position by finding and predicting the stars and sun’s location through triangulation. With a mariner version, latitude was determined using the Sun or Pole Star. Was the main navigational instrument until the sextant’s invention in the 16th century.

Bittacle, bitacola, or binnacle- a ship’s deck box holding its compass. Usually a simple wooden box mounted on a pedestal. Normally placed near or in front of the helm.

Bridge- ship’s part where it’s controlled.

Cockpit- where the controls are.

Compass- a navigational instrument used since the 12th century for determining the ship’s direction and position. Housed in the binnacle and consists of a magnetic needle freely suspended to align itself with the earth’s magnetic field. The needle turns until the ends are aligned with the magnetic north and south poles. The ship’s direction would be the angle the needle made with the lubber’s line or simply the direction forward. Also used to determine azimuth in celestial navigation.

Cross Staff- a relatively accurate tool used in celestial navigation since the early 16th century consisting of a scaled wooden staff or rod with one or more sliding perpendicular “transoms” with which the angle between a celestial object like the sun or the moon and the horizon can be measured. Later often replaced by the somewhat less accurate backstaff or quadrant.

Dodger- shield against rain or spray on a ship’s bridge.

Dog- a hinged catch fitting into a ratchet notch to move a wheel forward or prevent it from moving backward.

Gimbal- 2 concentric metal rings mounted and pivoting on right angle axes from each other. Used to suspend objects in a horizontal plane like the ship’s compass, allowing gravity to keep it level despite the ship’s rolling and pitching in the waves.
Helm, steering wheel, or ship’s wheel- the ship’s spoked steering wheel controlling the rudder.

Jacob’s Staff- an instrument used to measure altitude at sea.

King Spoke- a marked top spoke on a ship’s wheel when the rudder is centered.

Lubber’s Line- a mark or permanent compass line indicating the direction forward, parallel to the keel.

Octant- a similar navigational device to a sextant with the difference being a shorter scale, only 1/8 of a circle or 45 degrees. Used until 1767 when the sextant replaced it. Mostly because of the first edition of the Nautical Almanac, which tabulated lunar distances, enabling navigators to determine the current time from the measured angle between the sun and the moon. This angle is sometimes larger than 90 degrees and then can’t be measured by the octant, rendering it obsolete.

Sextant- a navigational instrument used to measure a celestial object’s elevation angle above the horizon. The angle and the time of measurement were used to calculate a position line on a nautical chart. A sextant’s common use was to sight the sun at noon to find the ship’s latitude levels. Its scale had 1/6 of a full circle or 60 degrees.

Spoke- an extension in the ship’s wheel beyond the rim acting as a handle by which the wheel is turned.

Spyglass- telescope.

Wheel- ship’s wheel at the helm. A spoked-round steering device, linked to the tiller through a configuration of ropes, blocks, or chains. The rudder, tiller, and wheel formed the helm.

Wheelhouse- shelter where the ship’s steering wheel is kept and protects the helmsman from the elements.

Yoke- an early name for the steering mechanism when steering was achieved with the help of a tackle connected to the tiller. Also when a boat was steered by 2 ropes leading from the stern to a small cross-bar attached to the rudder’s top.

The Compartments:

Berth-the ship’s sleeping and living quarters below main deck or a ship’s built-in bed. Can also refer to sufficient space for a ship to maneuver, a space for a ship to dock or anchor, or employment on a ship.

Brig- compartment where prisoners are kept.

Bunk- a built-in wooden bed in a later ship. Often built in tiers with one above the other.

Compartment- a space portion within a ship defined vertically between decks and horizontally between bulkheads. Analogous to a room within a building and could provide a watertight subdivision in a hull to retain buoyancy should it be damaged.

Hammock- a sailor’s bed, often consisting of a canvas drawn together at both ends and hung lengthwise under the deck. Since space was at a premium, more than one sailor often had to share one.

Magazine- a ship’s gunpowder and storage room, usually located deep in the ship’s hold. Due to obvious reasons, no lamps and candles were permitted. To still see what one was doing, a light room was adjacent to it, with the specific purpose to illuminate the magazine. Often lined with copper to prevent sparking and keep rats from gnawing their way in.

Mess- the ship’s kitchen and dining area.

Newel Post- turned wooden post from floor to ceiling for one side of a cabin. Serves as a handhold while the boat is at sea.

Pissdale- an 18th century ship’s urinal, which was essentially a tapered lead tube leading to the sea. Often located near the officer’s quarters.

Sickbay- a compartment where sick people go to rest and receive medical treatment. One of the most horrifying places on a ship if you know anything about pre-19th century medicine. Expect to see a surgeon hacking limbs after a naval clash.

Originally launched in 1577 as the Pelican, the privateer Sir Francis Drake would rechristen it as the HMS Golden Hind during his epic circumnavigational voyage in 1578. After he returned with a hull full of Spanish booty from capturing a Spanish ship 1580, the galleon remained on dock for public exhibition for 80 years until it was broken up in 1650 due to rot.

Of course, I couldn’t describe the hull in one post in this series. Nonetheless, a couple of important hull parts consist of the bow and the stern. The bow is the ship’s front that’s designed to reduce the hull’s resistance cutting through the water. On a ship, its bow should be tall enough to prevent water from easily washing over its top. On wooden ships, you might find a long spar on it called a bowsprit that’s designed for holding the front sails as well as a wooden figure head and surrounding decoration. Though some warships did have a sharp piece on their bowsprits for ramming purposes. Not to mention, the bow usually contained the ship’s anchor. The stern is the ship’s back which contains the rudder used to help steer the ship as well as the officers’ quarters. Nonetheless, most wooden ships had a square transom stern which somewhat resembles a decorative floating house. As for rudders, most wooden ships had a pintle and gudgeon type that originated in the Middle Ages. While earlier rudders were mounted on the stern via rudder posts and tackles, the pintle and gudgeon rudder was attached to the entire sternpost’s length with iron hinges and controlled by the ship’s wheel. But the pintle and gudgeon rudder’s potential couldn’t be fully realized until the introduction of the vertical sternpost and a fully-rigged ship in the 14th century. Yet, once it caught on, European ships would use the pintle and gudgeon rudder to sail the seven seas.

The Bow:

Aberdeen Bow- a type of sharp bow developed in the 19th century leading to better performance and speed.

Anchor- a large hook attached to the ship which is cast overboard and digs into the sea bed to keep the ship from moving. Usually a cast iron shank with 2 arms and 2 flukes and a wooden stock perpendicular to the arms. Stock consisted of 2 long oak pieces tapered toward each end and held together with treenail iron hoops. Only in the 19th century did the anchor become an all-iron construction, including the stock.

Apron- curved piece continuing the foremost keel end and behind the stem. Scraped to the fore deadwood and strengthens the stem. Also, a rectangular metal piece mounted over a cannon’s touch hole to keep the charge covered and dry.

Beakhead- a projection in front of the bow. Located below the bowsprit and often highly decorated.

Bee- hardwood on the bowsprit’s sides through which forestays are reeved. Or a block attached to any other spar for changing or holding its position.

Billethead- an alternative bow decoration to the figurehead. Usually carved flowing shapes. Often flowers or leaflike curls, ending in an upward or downward spiral below the bowsprit.

Bluff- a ship’s bow with a full rounded or flat shape.

Bow- the ship’s front, which is generally sharp. Designed to reduce the hull’s resistance cutting through water and had to be tall enough to prevent water from easily washing over the hull’s deck.

Bowsprit- the slanted pole on a ship’s prow sticking out from its front. It’s usually used as a lead connection for a small navigational sail. Carries stays for the foretopmast and from which the jibs are set. Common in square-rigged ships where it’s used to attached the outer or flying jib. A standing bowsprit is in a fixed position while a running bowsprit is movable.

Bower- anchor carried at ship’s bow.

Breasthook or Fore-Hook- a roughly triangular piece of wood fitted horizontally onto the bow and used to connect the stem. On larger ships, a breasthook was located below each deck while deck planking would be supported by and rabbeted onto this timber.

Catshead- a short wooden projection near a ship’s bow where used to secure the anchor, support its weight, and keep it outboard the hull to avoid planking damage. Early catsheads were often capped off with carved cat or lion face.

Cheeks- knee pieces fixed to the bow and to the head knee.

Creeper- a very small anchor used for retrieving mooring lines, anchor cables, flotsam, etc.

Crown- an anchor-shrank’s lower end where the arms come together.

Cutwater- a stem’s forward curve or edge.

Dolphin Striker- a short spar fitted mid-way and vertically downwards, midway along the bowsprit and under its cap. Used for holding the bobstay and preventing the bowsprit’s outboard end from upwardly riding under the tensioned headsail’s load.

Eyes of a Ship- the extreme ship’s bows. Originated from the ancient custom of painting an eye on each side so a ship could find its way.

Fiddlehead- a scrolled stemhead on a ship lacking a true figurehead.

Figurehead- an ornamental carved and painted figure or scene on the stem below the bowsprit, generally expressing some aspects of the ship’s name or owner. One type is the straddlehead which was a freestanding figure. But one normally standing a small but often decorated platform extending ahead of the ship.

Fish Davit- a spar used as a purchase to hoist anchor flukes to the bow’s top without damaging the ship’s hull.

Fluke- a pointed triangular blade at the end of an anchor’s arm. Intended to grab hold of the sea bottom. Usually the anchor’s broadest part.

Forebody- forepart that’s in front of the ship’s widest section.

Forecabin- cabin in fore part of ship.

Forefoot- foremost end of a ship’s keel.

Forepeak- the foremost part of a ship’s hold.

Gallery- a platform at a ship’s stem. Could be an open balcony or closed i.e built-up.

Gammon Iron- an iron circular band used to hold the bowsprit into the stem in late sailing ships.

Grapnel- a small anchor with 3 or more fluked claws. Often used for anchoring a small ship or as a grappling hook. Was called a fire grapnel when the claws were barred.

Hair Bracket- a molding coming in from behind a figurehead.

Half-Timbers- timbers in framework towards the stem.

Harpings- wales’ foreparts which are around the bow fixed to the stem.

Hawse- location at the bow where the hawesholes are.

Hawes Bolster- a piece of block iron protecting the hawsehole from the chafing of the rope running through it.

Hawsehole- hole for which the anchor chain is led overboard from the windlass on the deck through the ship’s side.

Hawse Pieces- ship’s foremost timbers, parallel to the stem, in which the hawsehole is cut.

Jackass or hawse bag- a canvas bag used to plug the hawsehole on the deck to prevent seawater from washing onto it.

Jib-Boom- a continuation of the bowsprit used to stay at the jib’s outer foot and the topgallant mast’s stay. A flying jib-boom is a further extension to which the flying-jib’s tack is attached.

Kedge- a small anchor to keep the ship steady.

Killick- a small anchor, especially one made of stone in a wooden frame. Normally had 2 curved wooden timbers forming a cross at the base where the center stone rests. These rods were then tied together just above the center stones. Used for anchoring small boats and fishing nets.

Knight Head- one of 2 large timbers on the stem’s either side which can rise above deck and support the bowsprit heel between them.

Manger- a small space or compartment in the ship’s bow to prevent water coming in through the hawseholes from running along the deck or into the ship. Located behind the hawseholes and enclosed by a coaming of scuppers drained the water back into the sea.

Pillow- a wood block fixed to a ship’s deck inside the bow on which the bowsprit’s inboard end rests.

Prow- the ship’s nose.

Ram- a long sharp or blunt projection from a warship’s bow for the purpose of demolishing an enemy’s hull.

Rostrum- spike on prow on warship used for ramming.

Sampson Post- a strong, vertical post used to support a ship’s windlass and bowsprit’s heel.

Stem- a keel continuation upwards at the hull’s front where the plank ends are butted. The foremost timber forming the ship’s bow. Joined by the keel by the deadwood and by the stem band outside.

Stem Head- the stem’s top or highest and most forward point. Sometimes had a carved figure like a lion on top if it was offset by the center. But after 1700, it became the norm for the bowsprit to be centered on and thus be supported by the stem.

Supporter or bibb- timbers under the catshead.

Thwartships Stem- timber joined to the hull sides at right angles to the keel.

Trailboard- a pair of boards or a set of often gilded and elaborate carvings on each stem side “trailing” the figurehead. Often helped to express support the ship’s name, sometimes with figures or scenes relating to its figurehead. Later, simpler trailboards had vine and oakleaf themes.

Whisker- short horizontal spars fitted to a bowsprit when a jib-boom is added.

Whooding- planks rabbeted along the ship’s stem.

Windlass- a lifting device which in its simplest form of a horizontal cylindrical barrel on which a rope or anchor cable winds. A manually operated windlass was turned by handspikes and one or more cranks later on.

The Stern:

Afterbody- part of the ship behind the widest section and in front of the stern.

Afterpeak- a compartment in the stern behind the furthest bulkhead.

Archboard- counter formation across the extreme stern end, being a continuation of the covering board.

Buttock- convex curve under the stern, between the counter as well as the far part of the bilge that’s between the quarter and the rudder.

Counter or Fantail- an overhanging stern projecting beyond the sternpost. Often purely ornamental, but almost a necessity in cutters and yawls.

Counter Stays, Counter Timbers, or Stern Timbers- timbers or stays within the counter projecting behind and taking the weight off the counter.

Counter Stern- a traditional stern construction with a long overhang and a shorter upright end piece. Rounded when in plain view but usually decked over.

Fashion Pieces- timbers forming the stern’s shape which are fixed to the sternpost and wing transom.

Flagstaff- flag pole at ship’s stern.

Great Cabin- the ship captain’s quarters usually located in the stern. Often used as a meeting place or dining room in addition to the captain’s use. Can have cannons and be turned into a battle station if disassembled with glass windows removed. Depending on the time period, the rudder yoke or tiller would run through this cabin from rudder to helm.

Gudgeon- a socket into which the ship’s pintle rudder fits.

Hood- a strakes final end.

Hood Ends- plank ends which are fitted into the stem or sternpost’s rabbet.

Horn Timbers- bracket or knee-shaped timbers fixed to the sternpost to support the counter.

Inside Stern or inside stem- a longitudinally joined sections sawn from larger timbers and covered by side planking ends. This makes the stem or stern invisible from the outside. Main structural detail of boat end types.

Pink Stern- stern with a narrow, overhanging transom.

Pintle- a pin or bolt inserted into the gudgeon, which is used for a pivot or hinge.

Rudder- a means of giving a ship’s direction underway. Changed from an oar rudder hung from a ship’s sides to a fixed stern rudder in the 14th century. The latter was a flat paddle hung and hinging from a sternpost with its lateral pivot movement transmitted to the rudder by a wheel, tiller, and/or rope and pulley system, depending on the ship’s sides and time period.

Rudder Stop- lag on stern frame or a stout bracket on deck at each side of the quadrant to limit the rudder’s swing at 37 degrees starboard.

Run- indicating the hull lines’ curvature towards the stern.

Shaft Log- block through which the steering shaft passes.

Skeg- a timber connecting the keel and sternpost.

Stern- a ship’s rear. Often refers to the rear part above the sternpost from the counter to the taffrail. Contains the lanterns, galleries, tafferel, captain’s office and officers’ quarters. Shape also forms the ship’s main characteristic with the principal types being pointed, round, or square as seen in plain view.

Stern Lantern- a lantern often resembling a streetlight, mounted above the tafferel or above the quarter galleries. Since 1450, sailing ships would often carry 1-3 and sometimes more lanterns at the stern. A single lantern could be mounted from the mast top to indicate the lead-ship, admiral, and squadron commander. Since this was most likely a temporary situation often one of the stern lanterns was relocated at the top. Main-top means full admiral. Fore-top means vice admiral. Mizzen-top means rear admiral.

Sternpost- the aftermost timber in a ship’s hull, forming the stern down to the keel while bearing the rudder.

Stern Sheet- a flat area on deck, inboard a small boat transom, which may contain hatches below deck or provide on deck storage for lifesaving equipment.

Sternson- a keelson’s extremity in which the sternpost is fixed.

Tafferel- a stern’s upper part. Often consists of a curved wood piece richly decorated with sculptures and paintings.

Taffrail- rail around the ship’s stern or the stern’s upper part. Often richly decorated.

Transom- a wide, flat, slightly curved, or sometimes vertical board at the hull’s rear, which increase the width and buoyancy at the stern. Consists of horizontally laid closing planks and supporting timbers forming square sterns.

Transom Knees- knees at the stems springing from the transom.

Tuck- ship part where lower plank ends meet under the stern.

Wardroom- the officers’ quarters for dining and recreation on a warship. Often located directly below the captain’s cabin.

Whipstaff- a bar attached to the tiller used for convenience and to extend leverage in steering.

Woodlock- a thick wood piece fitted to the rudder to keep it in position.

Launched in 1813, the snow-brig, USS Niagara was the flagship of Captain Oliver Hazard Perry during the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. During the battle, Perry ordered his men, “Don’t give up the ship.” Afterwards, it fired its guns and got some British ships to surrender. Later, it assisted with transporting Major General William Henry Harrison’s army to the mouth of the Detroit River. After the war, the Niagara was kept afloat as a receiving ship until it was sunk in 1820. Since 1988, it’s been the state ship of Pennsylvania.

Then we get to the ship’s main body which is the hull. Sailors live and work on it most of the time. The captain officers usually give orders to their men on it. Guns are shot from it. Supplies and cargo are stored in it. But a hull’s structure varies on ship type. While the hull’s shape is dependent upon the design’s needs which is chosen for striking a balance between costs, accommodations, load carrying and stability, speed, power requirements, motion and behavior on the seaway, and special considerations for the ship‘s role. Hulls of the earliest design are thought to have consisted of hollowed out tree bole making the boats with them the first canoes. Hull form then proceeded to the coracle shape and on to more sophisticated naval architectural forms advanced. By around 3000 BCE the ancient Egyptians knew how to assemble wooden planks into a hull. A wooden ship’s hull was constructed with wooden planking supported by transverse frame (often referred as ribs) and bulkheads which were further tied together by longitudinal stringers or a ceiling. Often but not always the keel always forms the ship’s centerline. And when it’s all covered in barnacles sailors could be punished by been repeatedly dunked and fished out in a practice known as keelhauling.

The Hull:

Bottom-part of the hull below waterline.

Crotch- naturally crooked timbers fixed on the keel.

Deadrise- angle between the ship’s bottom and the horizontal plan, at the hull’s widest part.

Frame- the traverse structure giving the ship its cross-sectional shape. Made up with 4 futtocks on a square-ribbed ship. Forms the hull’s shape.

Hull- the ship’s frame or body that floats on the water. But without the masts, rigging, or internal fittings.

Keel or backbone- the ship’s underside or bottom scratching from bow to stern and where the stem, sternpost, and ribs are attached. It’s an important part of the ship’s structure which also has a strong influence on its turning performance and resists the wind’s sideways pressure. Becomes covered in barnacles after sailing the seas. Used to balance the water.

Light- any opening on a ship’s hull, stern, or deck meant to allow sunlight to enter inside.

Quarter- a ship’s afterparts on the centerline’s each side. Also a work-shift on board a ship, continual 24/7 rotation of a 4-hour rest period in a normal 2 quarters setup.

Quarter Badge- a window outcrop at a ship’s quarters. A remnant of the earlier quarter gallery, often highly decorated with marine figures or other emblems.

Topsides- side planking from the waterline to the sheer.

Tumblehome- the amount by which 2 ship sides brought in towards the center above the maximum beam.

Upper Work- part of the ship’s hull above waterline when it’s properly balanced for a sea voyage.
Waist- the ship’s central and widest section with the lowest freeboard.

Outside the Hull:

Black Strakes- planks immediately above the wales.

Bumpkin or boomkin- spar projecting from the ship’s bow or stern providing for tack fairleads.

Channel- a flat, plank-like or platform-like projection from the ship’s side used to spread the shrouds clear of the hull. Upper chain plat ends connected or terminated here.

Centerboard or Drop Keel- a type of retractable keel used on ships to prevent drifting downwind.

Chain Plate- one of a number of strips of iron, chains, or a combination of iron links and straps with each lower end fastened to a ship’s hull and the upper end carrying a deadeye to which the shrouds or back stays were connected and tensioned.

Chesstree- a timber fitted on the hull’s outside just below the gunwale. Had 1-4 holes with internal rollers or pulleys through which the main tack or sheets were hauled from within board.

Cofferdam- a watertight chamber or compartment attached to the hull’s outside below waterline so repairs can be made.

Deals- planks cut from pine or fir of a specific size which was commonly 3”x 9”x 12.”

Escutcheon- a shield-shaped emblem located at the bow, stern, or sides, bearing a coat of arms, name, or owner’s symbol.

False Keel- lower addition to the main keel to either protect it from damage or to increase draft and improve sailing characteristics.

Garboard Strake- strake immediately adjacent to the keel.

Gunnel Wales- uppermost strake which is longer than the others.

Gunport- a square or round hole built through which the cannons were fired. First appeared around 1500. Sometimes highly decorated with wreaths and other décor, especially from the 15th – 17th centuries.

Hance- step made by the handrail drop at a ship’s side to a lower level.

Hance Piece- a bracket to fit the hance, often elaborately carved with dogs or dolphins. Sometimes running several feet down a ship’s side.

Jacob’s Ladder- a rope ladder with wooden rungs used for accessing a ship from the side.

Joggle- a notch cut in a plank edge to take the butt out of the next plank when planking a wodden ship.

Leeboard- a lobe-shaped board lowered from either ship side acting as a large oar to minimize drifting.

Outrigger- an extension to each side of the crosstrees to spread the backstays. In smaller East Indies ships, it’s a thin, long, extra hull parallel to the main hull.

Pavesses- large wooden shields fixed permanently to the ship’s sides and bullwarks. Often seen in galleons and carracks.

Porthole or scuttle- Opening sides from a ship’s hull, which are used for various purposes like gunports, timber ports, freeing ports, vents, or lights. When not in use they were closed by hinging doors, called pot-lids.

Quarter Gallery- an open or closed platform on a ship. Sometimes separate from the stern gallery and sometimes fully joined so one could walk around the stern.

Rigol- a gutter fitted over a port or scuttle to prevent rain from running into a ship when it’s open.

Rubbing Strake or rubbing streak- a strong horizontal plank fixed to the ship’s side as protection. Acts like a bumper.

Sheer- a fore-and-aft ship curvature from bow to stern. Traditionally lowest amidship to maximize freeboard at hull ends. Can be reverse, higher in the middle to maximize space, or a combination of shapes. Also can be a ship’s position for riding a single anchor holding it clear.

Sheathing- ship’s planking or decking.

Sheer Strake- strake immediately below the gunwale and on top of the hull.

Shoe- protective planking along the keel’s bottom.

Side- the ship’s edge.

Skid or Skeed- a strong piece to protect a ship’s side planking that extend the main wales from the hull’s top.

Slipway- ramp sloping into water supporting the ship.

Strake- a set of a lengthwise planking with similar sny, running the ship’s hull length. Might be a single plank on small boats and could consist of a number of planks on larger ships.

Wales- strong strakes placed at intervals along the ship’s side to strengthen the decks.

Inside the Hull:

Balance Frame- the forward-most and aftermost frame of the hull’s full width.

Ballast- heavy material placed in the bottom of ship’s hold to enhance stability by lowering its center of gravity and increasing its draft. Can be of iron, lead, or stone.

Ballast Keel- metal fixed to the keel to replace ballast.

Bay- a ship’s area used for carrying goods and equipment.

Bearding-Line- a line drawn in the deadwoods and keel showing the hull planking entering these parts.

Bilge- the lowest part inside the ship, within the hull which is the first place to show leakage. It’s often dank and musty, and considered the ship’s most filthy, deadly space. Usually the transition between the bottom and sides.

Bilge Keel- an additional keel located near the bilge on a ship’s either side to protect the hull when grounding and to lessen drift when heeling.

Bilge Stringer- timbers running the hull’s entire length near the bilge’s turn as an integral girder of a wooden ship’s frame.

Bilge Water- water inside the bilge, sometimes referred to as bilge itself.

Bulkhead- a watertight partition or dividing wall within a ship’s hull. Used to form compartments.

Chine- an abrupt change where the hull’s topside meets its bottom. A multi-chine hull has 4 or more to allow an approximation of a round bottomed shape using flat panels. Also refers to the longitudinal structure inside the hull supporting these panels’ edges.

Chine Stringer- a longitudinal part in a ship between the keel and gunwale.

Clamp- a horizontal timber secured to the frames’ inner sides in a longitudinal direction under the shelf, carrying the beams from stem to stern.

Codwads- floor timbers extending below the frame.

Covering Board- board covering the rib and timber heads.

Cross Chocks- timbers fixed across a deadwood amidship to strengthen the futtocks.

Deadwood- reinforcing timbers placed between the keel and stem to build and strengthen the framework when too narrow for the side timbers to fit. Extended from keel upwards, effectively raising the floor-timbers from the bow to stern.

Dunnage- loose wood laid at a hull’s bottom. Used to raise cargo to avoid water damage.

Fardage- wood placed in ship’s bottom to keep cargo dry.

Filler Block- wood segment to fill a void between frames, usually between the planking and clamp.

Frames- timber frames constituting the ship’s hull shape to where planking is attached.

Futtock- a crooked wooden timber scarfed together to form the compound rib’s lower part of the ship. In larger ships the ribs can’t be made in one piece and consist of several pieces scarfed together. A ship’s rib usually comprised of 4-5 futtocks.